Full title | The Story of David and Goliath |
---|---|
Artist | Francesco Pesellino |
Artist dates | 1422 - 1457 |
Series | Story of David Panels from a Pair of Cassoni (?) |
Date made | about 1445-55 |
Medium and support | Tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 45.5 x 179.2 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought with the assistance of the Art Fund and a number of gifts in wills, 2000 |
Inventory number | NG6579 |
Location | Room 53 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This long and fantastically detailed painting is a precious survivor of Renaissance interior decoration – and it gives us an idea of just how spectacular this could be. It is one of a pair telling the story of David, King of Israel, who started life as a shepherd boy but rose to fame and fortune through killing the giant Goliath.
In the centre we see David, in pink, swinging his sling, taking aim at the armoured Goliath, whose forehead is already bleeding. In the foreground David beheads the fallen giant. The complex composition is linked by the stream: it flows from left to right, in and out of the panel, joining the most important incidents.
The painting, together with its pair also in the National Gallery’s collection, were doubtless made to commemorate a marriage, possibly of a member of the Medici, the ruling family of fifteenth-century Florence.
This long and fantastically detailed painting is a precious survivor of Renaissance interior decoration – and it gives us an idea of just how spectacular this could be. It’s one of a pair of panels made to commemorate a marriage, perhaps of one of the Medici, the ruling family of fifteenth-century Florence. They were perhaps once set into the panelling of a bed chamber.
It shows the story of King David, who started life as a shepherd boy but rose to fame when he killed the giant Goliath, an enemy of Israel. According to the Old Testament, David was left behind when his brothers joined the Israelite army, which was fighting the Philistines. One day his father sent him to the army camp with food for them and he heard the Philistine champion, Goliath, challenge the Israelites to single combat. No one dared to respond even though Saul, King of Israel, promised great rewards to whoever killed the giant – including his daughter’s hand in marriage. In spite of his youth and inexperience, and his brothers' scorn, David offered to fight.
On the far left, David sits on the river bank, minding his father’s flocks. The stream helps us follow the narrative: it flows from left to right, in and out of the panel, joining the most important incidents. We next see him bending down to collect five smooth stones to put in the sling which he carries over his shoulder; according to the Bible, he preferred these to conventional weapons. In the corner are the lions which David boasted to the doubtful Saul he had killed.
Next, David stands before Saul, who is mounted on a grey horse, and protests against the armour that servants are putting on him: he would rather fight without it. In the centre there’s a violent battle. The Israelites, dressed as contemporary knights in armour, charge the Philistines, who wear turbans. David, in pink, swings his sling, taking aim at the armoured Goliath, whose forehead is already bleeding. Immediately behind him, the Israelite cavalry is led by a knight with a gold torch holder on his surcoat (tunic) – this was an emblem used by the Medici, and is still displayed on the corner of the Palazzo Medici in Florence. Finally, in the foreground, David beheads the fallen giant.
Pesellino was influenced by Paolo Uccello, especially in his doll-like, if very conspicuously male, horses. They are similar to those in Uccello’s Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano, though more lifelike. Pesellino had clearly studied real horses – look at the grey and the chestnut struggling in the foreground, and the fallen grey rolling on top of his knight by the river – although he was also influenced by equestrian sculpture. His interest in nature recalls the paintings of Pisanello, though it’s hard to know how much he was influenced by Pisanello, and how much both were catering to the tastes of a sophisticated, courtly audience.
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The Story of David and Goliath
Story of David Panels from a Pair of Cassoni (?)
There’s so much going on in these pictures that it’s hard to make out the story. Battles and parades, knights and nobles, horses, hounds, lions, bears and giants are crammed in a flowery Tuscan landscape. Although it looks like a fairy tale set in medieval Italy, the story comes from the Bible and tells how a brave shepherd boy, David, married a princess after defeating a giant, Goliath.
The long shape of each painting is due to their original function. They would probably have been set into the panelling of a private room, possibly over a chest. We don't know exactly who they were made for, but emblems associated with the Medici, the ruling family of Florence in the fifteenth century, are shown on some of the clothing. They might have been made for a Medici marriage.
There’s so much going on in these unusually shaped panels that it’s hard to make out the story. Battles and parades, knights and nobles, horses, hounds, lions, bears and giants are crammed in a flowery Tuscan landscape, with roads and rivers winding through green hills and between medieval walled cities.
Although it looks like a fairy tale set in fifteenth-century Italy, the story comes from the Bible, and tells how a brave shepherd boy, David, married a princess after defeating the giant Goliath. This is what is known as cyclical narrative, where events which took place at different times are shown in a single setting. The narrative starts on the left of The Story of David and Goliath, with David guarding his flocks, and continues – more or less – from left to right, to his battle with Goliath. The Triumph of David shows the triumphal procession bringing the giant’s head to Jerusalem. On the far right there seems to be a betrothal scene: a group of richly dressed courtiers are gathered around a man and a woman who are being formally presented to each other. This could be David and Michal, daughter of the King of Israel whom David married, or the couple for whom the paintings were intended – or perhaps a conflation of both.
These paintings would doubtless have decorated a private room in fifteenth-century Florence and give us an idea just how sumptuous interiors in Renaissance Italy could be. They were probably spalliere, paintings set into the panelling, usually at shoulder height, above chests or seating. The detail, like the flowers in the grass at the front, was clearly meant to be examined close up. Although some of the materials have now darkened – the silver of the knights‘ armour, the green of the plants and the blue of the sky – and in places the surface of the paint is rather worn and some detail has been lost, they would originally have been brilliantly coloured and sparkling with gold and silver. The animals, in particular the bear, cheetah and lions, were beautifully painted and very naturalistic, and the punched and burnished gold must have shone in the candle light.
Their iconography suggests they were made to commemorate a marriage, probably for one of the Medici, whose emblems appear on some of the knight’s clothing. We know that Pesellino painted spalliere and cassoni for the family, and they were especially interested in the story of David: they commissioned several works showing the victorious David, including a bronze statue by Donatello that’s still in the Palazzo Medici. The atmosphere of these paintings is also very similar to that of Benozzo Gozzoli’s frescoes in the Medici chapel.
Two of Cosimo de’ Medici’s sons, Piero and Giovanni, married in 1448 and 1453 respectively; his nephew Pierfranceso di Medici married in 1456. If the paintings were made for a Medici wedding, these three are all possible options. Whoever they were meant for, the joyful, romantic subject matter would have been especially suitable for a young couple’s bedroom.


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