ARARPI0264522
Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Canvas XVII Century
David Playing the Harp
Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th century. The scene depicts the biblical episode taken from the First Book of Samuel which thus tells: "Now when the evil spirit permitted by God came upon Saul, David took the harp and began to play; Saul felt relieved, he felt better, and the evil spirit departed from him." In the painting the figures are powerful and vigorous, both King Saul and the guards who hold him, depicted in a tangle of figures that occupies the entire left part of the scene; on the right instead is David, who although young and simple shepherd, stands calmly before the furious king, playing his instrument with dignity and firmness. In the background on the right, in a corridor of the palace, the priests and the king's advisors watch the dinner in dismay. On the frame of the painting is a plaque attributing it to Bernardo Strozzi. The painting was restored and relined in the mid-1900s, and is placed in a gilded frame in style.