RH.P.0432

Abraham and Melchizedek

naar: Peter Paul Rubens

The Biblical high priest Melchizedek brings Abraham bread and wine and blesses him. Around them there are servants and slaves. Theologians considered this scene as a pre-figuration of the Last Supper. Abraham handing over the tithes to Melchizedek refers to the Wise Men’s offering to the child Jesus. Rubens’ composition is very reminiscent of Tobias Stimmer’s Neue Künstliche Figuren Biblischer Historien [New art figures from Biblical history] (Basel 1576), which Rubens knew well and used in his youth as study material and as a basis for drawing. Various preliminary studies and stages for this engraving have been preserved. The preliminary design, kept in the Albertina in Vienna (Austria), which was made on commission of Rubens, is – apart from the background architecture – a true-to-life reproduction of his painting that is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen (France). Rubens improved this preliminary study, whereby he limited the number of figures. In the proofs that are in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg (Russia) and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Rubens redrew the background architecture and the page with the horse. This proves that Rubens attached great importance to prints made after his work and the tight grip he kept on the production process.

1638

copper engraving (visual work)

kopergraveren