David and Goliath

To understand

 WHAT YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PICTURE 

The combat between David and Goliath opposes the weak man to the strong one, an adolescent shepherd, armed with a sling and a stick, against a professional soldier, built like a giant and strongly armed.

The fight takes the form of a sort of close combat won by David by seizing Goliath’s sword.

The sling in the foreground has served to put down the giant and to cut off his head.

 ... AND IN OTHER PICTURES 

Goliath is always a giant but his size is more or less human. The Middle-Ages represented him as a knight heavily armed confronting the shepherd David and his sling.

David is more or less young, seldom red-haired in spite of the text; he is dressed as a shepherd can be imagined. The Renaissance wanted to show his beauty, hence sometimes his nakedness.

Victorious David brings back the head of his opponent like a trophy. This subject is sometimes independent of the fight. David is then surrounded by a crowd acclaiming him while he makes a few dance steps.

Not be confused with

The biblical narrative

The first Book of Samuel, chapter 17

The young shepherd David enters the service of Saul, the king of the Israelites. The Philistines that they fight challenge them: who will accept to fight against their champion?

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; (1 Samuel 17:4-5)

David offered to take up the challenge; he took his stick, his sling and five stones and advanced towards Goliath who
“when he saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth” Then David said to the Philistine: You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand; and I will strike you, and take your head from you… that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

As soon as Goliath attacked, “David put his hand in his bag, and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.” Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. (1 Samuel 17:42-51)

Comment

  David explains what is at stake in the fight: the recognition of the superiority of the God of Israel.

It is God who is the master of the combat. David’s apparent weakness does not count against the force of evil represented by Goliath. David’s victory is that of God.

See similar pictures

The Middle-Ages knew that the heavily armed knight was invincible, except through trickery; hence the emphasis put on the use of the sling.	David killing Goliath with a Stone from his Sling; Michel van der BORSCH; 1332; illuminated miniature on parchment; manuscript MMW 10 B 21; Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague.  Meermanno	David fighting against Goliath; Jean DREUX; c. 1450-1460; miniature on parchment; from the “compendium historiae universalis”; manuscript MMW 10 A 21, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague  Meermanno
David uses Goliath’s sword in different ways; but in Titian, he does not forget to thank God, the true victor.	David and Goliath; Peter Paul RUBENS; c. 1616; oil on canvas; Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California. Site	David and Goliath; TITIAN; c. 1540; oil on canvas; Santa Maria della Salute, Venice. Olga's Gallery - Online Art Museum
Victorious David brings back Goliath’s head. These are two very different views of the young shepherd.	David with the Head of Goliath; CARAVAGGIO; 1606; oil on wood; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Web Gallery of Art	David with the Head of Goliath; Jacob van OOST the Elder; 1643; oil on canvas; the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg  Hermitage StPetersburg

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