09 Works, Today, July 20th, is Prophet Elias's day, his story in art #201

Unknown artist

Prophet Elijah

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I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Elijah was a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC). At his birth, his father Sabah saw angels of God surrounding the Prophet, clothing him in fire and feeding him flames. Elijah defended the worship of the Hebrew God over that of the Canaanite deity Baal. God also performed many miracles through Elijah, including resurrection the dead, bringing fire down from the sky, and entering Heaven alive "by fire". He is also portrayed as leading a school of prophets known as "the sons of the prophets". Following his ascension, Elisha, his disciple and most devoted assistant took over his role as leader of this school. The Book of Malachi prophesies Elijah's return "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD",[making him a harbinger of the Messiah and of the eschaton in various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible. 

Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842–1942)

Elijah Prophesises to Ahab and Jezebel Their End, c. 1879

Oil on canvas

H 34.5 x W 43.5 cm

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Dorset, England

Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842–1942) is best known as Burne-Jones' studio assistant who worked for 'the master' for almost thirty years, and made an invaluable record of Burne-Jones's conversations in the last years of his life. He was also an interesting painter in his own right, producing imaginative and religious subjects in oils together with watercolours, mostly of old buildings.

He received his artistic education at the South Kensington and the Royal Academy Schools and in 1869 applied to work for Morris and Company. He was deputed to Burne-Jones' studio where he remained until the end of Burne-Jones' life. His own religious subjects had some success, for instance The Story of Ruth was bought for the Chantrey Bequest in 1877 (Tate Gallery). In 1878 Burne-Jones recommended him to Ruskin who was looking for artists to record old buildings threatened with demolition or restoration. Until 1893, Rooke spent half his time working for Ruskin; these watercolours are now in the Ruskin Museum, Sheffield. He produced a further series for the Society for the Preservation of Pictorial Records of Ancient Works of Art. These are in the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery.

Rooke had a gentle unassuming personality; Burne-Jones wrote of him to Ruskin: "Also there is a very high place in Heaven waiting for him and He Doesn't Know It." He died in his hundredth year in his home in the "aesthetic" suburb of Bedford Park. More on Thomas Matthews Rooke

Prophet Elias was wise and faithful to the true God. God sent Prophet Elias to speak to King Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel. But to no avail. King Ahab threatened to kill him.

The prophet Elias

Elias the Prophet

Egg tempera and gold leaf on wood

16 x 13 x 2.5 cm

Private collection

Elias fled to a mountain. There he stayed and hid in a cave. Every day, God sent a crow with meat and bread to feed him. He would drink from a nearby stream. But there was a drought in the land. Elias had prophesied that it would last for 3 years as a punishment for the faithlessness of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. So in time, the stream dried up.

Dieric the Elder Bouts

Prophet Elijah in the Desert 1464-68

Lower Right Panel Of The Altarpiece Of The Holy Sacrament

Oil on canvas

71 cm x 88 cm

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Dieric Bouts, (born c. 1415, Haarlem, Holland—died May 6, 1475, Louvain, Belgium), was a northern Netherlandish painter who, was an accomplished master.

In 1448 Bouts visited Louvain in the southern Netherlands. After 1457 his name appeared almost every year in the archives of Louvain. Bouts’s earlier works are strongly Rogierian in their expression of intense emotion through symbolic gestures. Passionate subjects were appropriate vehicles for this expression. Bouts’s lack of realism in anatomy, however, and his stiff and angular compositions may well reflect the sober religious intensity of the northern Netherlands.

In the paintings ascribed to Bouts’s mature period gives way to a greater severity and dignity in the treatment of figures. Bouts’s two best-known works belong to the last 20 years of his life. More on Dieric Bouts

With no water, Prophet Elias had no choice but to leave his mountain hideout. On his way, he met a poor widow with her only son, who gave Elias a place to stay, despite her poverty. She had only a little flour and oil with which to make all their food. 

Louis Hersent  (1777–1860)

Elijah Resuscitating the Son of the Widow of Zarephath, between 1777 and 1860

Oil on canvas

34.7 x 41.3 cm | 13.7 x 16.3 inches 

Louis Hersent (10 March 1777 – 2 October 1860) was a French painter. He was born in Paris. He became a pupil of Jacques-Louis David, and obtained the Prix de Rome in 1797. He continued to exhibit with rare interruptions up to 1831.

Hersent's typical works belong to the period of the Restoration. He continued in favour under Charles X, for whom executed Monks of Mount St Gotthard, exhibited in 1824. In 1831, Hersent made his last appearance at the Salon with portraits of Louis Philippe, Marie Amélie and the duke of Montpensier; that of the king, though good, is not equal to the portrait of Spontini (Berlin), which is probably Hersent's chef-d'œuvre.

After this date, Hersent ceased to exhibit at the yearly salons. Although in 1846 he sent an excellent likeness of Delphine Gay and one or two other works to the rooms of the Société d'Artistes, he could not be tempted from his usual reserve even by the international contest of 1855. More on Louis Hersent

However, Prophet Elias miraculously increased the amount of flour and oil so that all three people had enough to eat for a long time. Then, when the widow’s son fell ill and died, Prophet Elias performed a second miracle and brought him back to life.

Cornelis Bisschop

Elijah and the Angel

Oil on canvas

68.7 x 81.8 cm (27 1/16 x 32 3/16 in)

Private collection

Cornelis Bisschop (12 February 1630 – 21 January 1674), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. 

In ca. 1650 he was a student of Ferdinand Bol in Amsterdam. In 1653 he was back in Dordrecht, where he got married. According to Houbraken he was the first to paint carved trompe l'oeil wooden panels in such an ingenious way that they became quite popular. He painted historical allegories, portraits, still lifes, and genre-works. He was asked to paint for the Danish court, but he died unexpectedly, leaving his wife and eleven children.

Of these children, two sons Abraham and Jacobus and three daughters became painters. These had been his students along with Margaretha van Godewijk who wrote an emblem about his self-portrait with a curtain, which illustrates the legend of Zeuxis. More on Cornelis Bisschop

For three whole years, not a drop of water fell. God sent Elias to appear before King Ahab. Upon seeing him, King Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” Prophet Elias responded, “I have not troubled Israel; but you and your people have because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord.” 

Prophet Elias offered King Ahab a challenge. He told the King to gather his people and priests the next day. Elias and the priests would each make offerings to their own God. No one would have fire. Then they would let the true God send fire from the heavens to light the wood and make the burnt offering.

Unknown artist

Ignite the Fire on the Altar!

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

King Ahab accepted the challenge. The next day they all gathered on Mt. Carmel. The priests of King Ahab made their offerings upon their altar. They danced around their altar, pleading with Baal to send fire from the heavens. But nothing happened.

Then, Prophet Elias drew near to his altar and made his offering. Before the crowd, he knelt and prayed, Elias had barely finished his prayer when a great fire descended from the heavens and consumed the wood and the offering.

When the gathered crowds saw the miracle, they believed in the true God. Prophet Elias then prayed for rain, and a great rain fell. All the people glorified the true God.

Unknown artist

Fiery ascent of the prophet Elijah

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I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Finally, when his earthly life was over, God decided to bring Prophet Elias close to him without his tasting death. One day, when Prophet Elias was resting near the Jordan River a fiery chariot descended from the heavens and took up Prophet Elias. More on Elijah

Unknown artist

Prophet Elias story

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I have no further description of this artwork at this time

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