National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: David with the Head of Goliath
  • Overview
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

David with the Head of Goliath is unique in Renaissance art. It is a rare, if not the only example of a painted shield that can be attributed to a great master, and it is decorated with a narrative scene instead of the typical coat of arms. It was intended for display in ceremonial parades, rather than for protection in battle.

The subject was especially appropriate for a Florentine audience of the 15th century. As the smallest major political power on the Italian peninsula, the city saw itself as a young David contending with such powerful Goliaths as the Pope, the Duke of Milan, the King of Naples, and the Doge of Venice. In Castagno's shield, David is depicted preparing to attack Goliath, having already chosen a smooth stone from the riverbank for his sling. The conclusion appears at the bottom of the shield; the terrible giant's severed head, with the stone embedded in its forehead, lies at David's feet as a warning to any potential enemies of Florence.

For this interpretation of the Old Testament hero, Castagno chose a young athlete, whose pose shows the painter's awareness of classical prototypes. Castagno demonstrated his knowledge of the new science of anatomy by modeling the figure in light and shadow, articulating the muscles and veins of the arms and legs, and giving powerful activity to David's running pose and windblown garments.

Inscription

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Marks and Labels

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Provenance

Purchased, probably in Italy, in 1852 (for 6 Pounds, 13 shillings)[1] by William Drury-Lowe [1802-1877], Locko Park, Derbyshire;[2] by inheritance to his son, William Drury Nathaniel Drury-Lowe [d. 1906], Locko Park; by inheritance to his son, William Drury Drury-Lowe [d. 1916], Locko Park;[3] Captain Hanbury, by November 1912; purchased by (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); (Arthur J. Sulley & Co., London);[4] sold 13 January 1913 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[5] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] See Richard Calvocoressi, "Locko Park. An Important Family Collection," Connoisseur 192 (June 1976): 141.

[2] See W.D.N. Drury-Lowe's preface in Jean Paul Richter, Catalogue of Pictures at Locko Park, London, 1901, as well as John Cornforth, "Locko Park, Derbyshire - II," Country Life (12 June 1969): 1506-1507, where a stay of William Drury-Lowe in Italy in 1852-1853 is mentioned. See also Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner, 34 vols., London, 1996: G:306.

[3] See the introduction by George Hughes-Hartman in Nottingham University Art Gallery. Pictures from Locko Park, Derbyshire. Illustrated Catalogue, Notthingham, 1968: n.p.

[4] As explained by G. Hughes-Hartman (in a letter of 12 February 1991, in NGA curatorial files) to Rolf Bagemihl, "Captain Hanbury [probably]...was an impecunious gentleman rather than a dealer, acting as an intermediary." According to a copy of a letter of 2 November 1920 from Thomas Agnew & Sons concerning the sale of Locko Park pictures (this also supplied by Mr. Hughes-Hartman), the shield now in the NGA "was bought by us from Captain Hanbury in November 1912 for 2,000 Pounds and delivered to Messrs. Sulley in the same month." The letter adds that, "as is usually the case when we purchase pictures from private individuals," copies were made free of charge also of the paintings coming from Locko Park. The copy of the shield is still there today.

[5] Widener collection records and letters from Sulley to Bernard Berenson (copies in NGA curatorial files). A letter of 15 January 1913 informs Berenson that the shield has been acquired by P.A.B. Widener. See also David Alan Brown, "Berenson's Contribution to Scholarship, Taste, and Collecting," in Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979: 21.

Exhibition History

1857
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Paintings by Ancient Masters, Art Treasures Palace, Manchester, 1957, no. 55, as by Pollajuolo.
1979
Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979, no. 36, repro.
2004
Verrocchio's David Restored: A Renaissance Bronze from the National Museum of the Bargello, Florence, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004, fig. 13 (p. 43), not shown at two earlier venues in Florence and Atlanta.

Bibliography

1916
Berenson, Bernard, and William Roberts. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early Italian and Spanish Schools. Philadelphia, 1916: unpaginated, repro.
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 128, repro.
1935
Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935:48, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939:48, repro.).
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 5.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 34, color repro.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 3, repro.
1949
L. J. Roggeveen. "De National Gallery of Art te Washington." Phoenix 4, no. 12 (December 1949): 335-336, repro. 332.
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 42-44, repro.
1956
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 18, repro.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 17
1959
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Early Italian Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Three in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 42, color repro. on cover.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 6.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 80, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 24
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:40, color repro.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 17, repro.
1972
Wittkower, Rudolf. "Desiderio da Settignano's St. Jerome in the Desert." Studies in the History of Art 4 (1971-1972): 6-37, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 58, repro.
1976
Calvocoressi, Richard. "Locko Park. An Important Family Collection." Connoisseur 192 (June 1976):141
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 18, pl. 1.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:129-130, II:pl. 89
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 92, no. 54, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 77, repro.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 17, repro.
1993
Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art and Psychoanalysis. New York, 1993: 54-55, fig. 10.
1998
Olszewski, Edward. Prophecy and Prolepsis in Donatello's Marble "David". 1998: 73, repro. no. 15.
2003
Boskovits, Miklós, David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2003: 3-7, color repro.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 16-17, no. 9, color repro.
2008
Giovanni Bellini. Exh. cat. by Mauro Lucco and Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa. Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 2008-2009. Milan, 2008: 92.
2011
Pergam, Elizabeth A. The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857: Entrepeneurs, Connoisseurs and the Public. Farnham and Burlington, 2011: 221, fig. 5.3, 224, 312.
2012
Dunlop, Anne. "Parading David." Art History 35, no. 4 (September 2012): 683-688, 692-693, 696, 698, 699, 701; color fig. 1, 2, cover; fig. 3, 4.

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