Netherlandish Artists
The Meeting of Abram and Melchizedech
1515-20
Oil on wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (17.190.18c)
The panel illustrates Genesis 14:1-20. Dressed in 16th-century armor, Abram receives a loaf of consecrated bread from Melchizedech, who has the wine ready in a pitcher in his left hand.
This panel is the inner side of the left wing of a triptych. When the triptych is open, one can read an inscription that runs across all three panels and emphasizes the typological relation between Melchizedech's sacrifice and the Last Supper: CŒNANTIBUS ILLIS ACCEPIT IESUS PANEM BENEDIXIT AC FREGIT DEDIDQUE DISCIPULIS SUIS DICENS, "And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, blessed it, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said" (Matthew 26:26). There seems to be no room for what he said, either here or on the open state of the triptych, which pictures Adam and Eve taking the forbidden fruit.
The museum's online description of the triptych states that at least three painters were involved in its creation. The description includes a brief bibliography. As of 2019-05-08 it was at this url.
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Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.