Elijah restoring the widow's son

Ford Maddox Brown turned several of the illustrations that had been commissioned in 1863 for the Dalziel brothers' Bible Gallery into full-scale paintings. This one tells a story from the first Book of Kings. Elijah had miraculously supplied food for a widow and her son, and is called later to her house, where her son is dying. The widow accuses him of punishing her for her sins. But after a long vigil with the boy, Elijah brings him - still in his funeral shroud - down from the bedroom alive and well. This is an excellent example of the degree of historical authenticity at which the Pre-Raphaelites aimed. The humble interior, the rather Egyptian-looking steps and shroud, and the chicken with her chick, for example, give some flavour of biblical times, if not an accurate reconstruction. Brown's Manchester patron, Frederick Craven, commissioned the painting. He collected only pictures in watercolour. Brown later painted a replica in oil.