David and Abigail

The present work relates to an Old Testament story from the Book of Samuel in which David and his cohorts, banished to the Judean desert and forced to forage for their supplies, encounter Abigail, the charitable and beautiful wife of a farmer who has refused to help them and upon whom they have threatened punishment. Abigail, risking the anger of her husband, is depicted here in the act of offering David and his men the vittals borne by her attendant train. Abigail was later to become David's wife after her husband succumbed to a fatal stroke following a gluttonous feast of astonishing proportions.