King David Receiving the Cistern Water of Bethlehem
Medium
Oil on panel transferred to canvas
Dimensions
73.5 × 27.5 cm (28 7/8 × 10 7/8 in.); Framed: 79.7 × 33.4 × 5.1 cm (31 3/8 × 13 1/8 × 2 in.)
Classification
oil on panel
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
111671
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This scene and that of King Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheba are particularly fine examples of the decorative style practiced in Antwerp by a group of largely anonymous artists now dubbed Antwerp Mannerists. The paintings originally formed the interior of the wings of a folding triptych with the Adoration of the Magi as its center. Both show gifts being presented to a ruler on his throne and would have been understood as Old Testament prefigurations of the submission of the nations to Christ...