Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • Collection
  • Collection Research
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Watch / Listen / Read

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

A lightly drawn pen and ink rendering of a triumphal procession from the Old Testament. Abigail kneels in supplication at enter left. David stands proudly in the middle right.
A lightly drawn pen and ink rendering of a triumphal procession from the Old Testament. Abigail kneels in supplication at enter left. David stands proudly in the middle right.
Previous image 1 2 / 2 Next image
  • A lightly drawn pen and ink rendering of a triumphal procession from the Old Testament. Abigail kneels in supplication at enter left. David stands proudly in the middle right.
  • A lightly drawn pen and ink rendering of a triumphal procession from the Old Testament. Abigail kneels in supplication at enter left. David stands proudly in the middle right.

Hendrik de Clerck

David and Abigail

Description

Maker

Hendrik de Clerck (Flemish, 1570-1629)

Title

David and Abigail

Year

ca. 1590-1600

Medium

  • Pen and ink and brush and wash with traces of squaring in black chalk on laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Pen and ink and brush and wash with traces of squaring in black chalk on laid paper

Materials

wash technique

Supports

  • paper

Dimensions

23 x 40.2 cm (9 1/16 x 15 13/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscribed in pen and ink, LC: "HDC" [Nagler, Mon. III, 841, 2932]

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Miss Ellen D. Sharpe

Object Number

50.302

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

Old Master Drawings from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

Alt Author: Johnson, Deborah J.

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

In the Bible, the virtuous Abigail appeased King David with gifts after her wealthy but evil husband, Nabal, slighted David’s troops. In this crowded composition, Hendrik de Clerck shows Abigail kneeling in front of David’s horse. De Clerck created his forms with short dashes, circles, and a gossamer-like network of fluidly curling lines, with broader marks used for the landscape and background. As the monogram in the lower center suggests, this drawing was made as an independent work, and not as preparation for a print or painting.

Design and Description
Renaissance and Baroque Drawings
Jan 27, 2006 – Apr 09, 2006

Label copy

De Clerck’s use of pen and wash is mannered and idiosyncratic. The ink, applied in curved, abbreviated strokes, and the tonal wash create an overall rhythm across the drawing with little correspondence to either narrative import (the meeting of David and Abigail, found in the lightened central portion) or a natural source of light. The artist’s monogram suggests that this was a finished drawing, intended for a collector who would appreciate the anecdotal detail, various types of figures, and beautifully rendered setting as much as the narrative.

Old Master Drawings
Sep 02, 1983 – Oct 16, 1983

Use & Feedback

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Hendrik de Clerck (Flemish, 1570-1629)
David and Abigail, ca. 1590-1600
Pen and ink and brush and wash with traces of squaring in black chalk on laid paper
23 x 40.2 cm (9 1/16 x 15 13/16 inches)
Gift of Miss Ellen D. Sharpe 50.302

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use