Dieric Bouts the Elder
The Meeting of Abram and Melchizedek


Detail from Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament

This is one of four panels in the altarpiece to the left and right of the central image of the Last Supper.  Like the other panels, it presents what Bouts's theological mentors considered a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, the bread and wine blessed for Abram by Melchizedek recounted in Genesis 14:17-19.  The procession in the background is Abram's return from his victory over Chedorlaomor.  The man kneeling on the left would be Abram's ally the King of Sodom.  His kneeling posture and "praying hands" are modeled on the manner in which Christians receive the Eucharist.

More of Abraham

Source: Web Gallery of Art