Abraham meets the Three Angels by Ferdinand Bol, Genesis 18:1-15, Bible.Gallery
Artwork Description
Abraham is sitting in front of his tent when three men appear before him. He recognizes them as God's messengers and receives them with great hospitality. He gives them bread, butter, and milk and orders a calf to be slaughtered.
Before they leave, the men predict that Abraham's wife Sarah will give birth to a son within a year. Sarah watches from the house. She and her husband were much too old to have children, so they were shocked by the angels' message.
This painting is one in a series of five wall hangings that Bol made for a house on the Nieuwegracht in Utrecht. The other paintings show The Captain of God's Army Appears to Joshua, Pharoah's Daughter Finds Moses, King Cyrus Hands over the Treasure Looted from the Temple of Jerusalem, and Aeneas Receives a New Set of Armour.