Jacopo Palma il Giovane
Elijah Fed by an Angel
1580-1
Medium
Church of San Giacomo dall'Orio, Venice, Italy
The episode follows Elijah's flight to escape the wrath of Jezebel in 1 Kings 19:4-8:
And he went forward, one day's journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul: for I am no better than my fathers. And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree: and behold an angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: Arise and eat. He looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water: and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go. And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb.
In the painting we see the juniper tree in the background and a hearth cake in the angel's hand (though not "at his head" and not accompanied by water). The leaves on the tree are broader than those on a juniper, but basically this is a faithful rendition of the text.
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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.