Jun 25, 2025
Elijah and the Widow of Serepta (Zarephath)
Artist: Ciro Ferri (Italian, 1634-1689)
Date: 1669-1689
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: National Trust Collections, London, United Kingdom
Description
This picture shows Elijah, wearing the Carmelite habit of white mantle over brown tunic, encountering the widow of Sarepta gathering sticks, with her son, who was very ill. According to the Biblical story (I Kings 17: 8-24), the brook where Elijah was staying in the desert dried up so he moved to the city where he met a widow, who gave him food and drink, and whose son he revived from a fatal illness.
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