"The Gathering of Manna"

The date of 1602 makes this picture one of the artist's last works. It was originally one of a pair with  another titled "Abraham and Melchisedek."   Both subjects relate to the Last Supper: Melchisedek brought bread and wine to Abraham, an action regarded as prefiguring that of Christ. The the connection with this work derives from Christ's parable of the Bread of Life, as recounted in the Gospel of Saint John, VI: 24-58

Maerten de Vos, Maerten de Vos the Elder or Marten de Vos (1532 – 4 December 1603) was a Flemish painter. He is known mainly for his history and allegorical paintings and portraits. He was one of the leading history painters in the Spanish Netherlands in the second half of the sixteenth century.

de Vos ranks among the most important painters of altarpieces in Antwerp during the late-sixteenth century. In 1558, he was enrolled as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp, where he spent most of his life, but for possibly travelling to Italy in the 1550s or 1560s. His work is highly eclectic - he borrowed motifs and figures from Michelangelo, Veronese, and Tintoretto, as well as his Flemish contemporaries. He was also a prolific draughtsman and hundreds of prints were made after his drawings. His Moses showing the Israelites the Tablets of the Law of 1575  which includes a self-portrait, is considered one of his masterpieces.