Melchisedec benedice Abramo vittorioso

On hisreturn from victory over the Elamites, Abraham was joined in the Valley of the King by Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem, who offered him a blessing and received the spoils of war in return. Lionello Spada's composition emphasises the caesura between the two groups of biblical characters, on the left the king and his retinue, on the right Abraham at the head of his soldiers, against the backdrop of a landscape. The teachings of Ludovico Carracci, of whom Spada was a pupil, are reflected in the anatomy and gestures, albeit reinterpreted in a personal epic tone.