MOEYAERT, Claes Cornelisz.
(b. 1591, Durgerdam, d. 1655, Amsterdam)

David and Abigail

1620s
Oil on panel, 89 x 142 cm
Private collection

Claes Cornelisz. Moeyaert was one of the most prominent of the so-called 'Pre-Rembrandist' school of history and landscape painters working in Amsterdam, who, during the 1620s, shook off the shackles of Mannerism and paved the way for the later achievements of Rembrandt.

The subject of this painting, the Offering of Abigail or David and Abigail, (1 Samuel. 25) is the encounter between the Old Testament king and Abigail, a woman of Judaea.