The Prophet Elijah's Dream

Philippe de Champaigne painted The Prophet Elijah's Dream around 1652, depicting the Old Testament prophet who, exhausted by his flight from Queen Jezebel, was visited by an angel who provided him with food and water. The subject gave Champaigne opportunity to explore the divine apparition within a landscape setting rather than the architectural interiors of most of his religious work, and the sleeping prophet ministered by the angel has a tender intimacy that distinguishes it from his more austere Jansenist compositions. The painting's combination of human vulnerability — the exhausted, sleeping prophet — with divine care reflects the Jansenist emphasis on the distance between human frailty and divine grace bridged only by God's initiative.

The sleeping prophet and the ministering angel are rendered with Champaigne's characteristic precision and restraint, the clear lighting and the sparse landscape creating an image of austere spiritual consolation.