3-035-566 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Elijah Receiving Bread from the Widow of Zarephath, 1621-1624. Additional Info: In Giovanni Lanfranco's highly original design, a few large figures stand in a shallow foreground space. Using a low viewpoint and dramatic foreshortening, Lanfranco depicted the figures as if seen from below, imbuing them with monumentality. The powerful composition communicated both to spectators standing far away and to viewers standing beneath the painting.In this Old Testament story (1 Kings 17:8-24), the poor widow of Zarephath nourished Elijah in the desert with bread baked from a supply of grain that Elijah had assured her would be miraculously renewed by God. In Catholic theology, the widow's bread prefigured both the bread served at the Last Supper and God's sustenance of each Christian's spirit through the sacrament of the Eucharist.