David Triumphant over Goliath

1507 or before

Moderno

Associated Names
Moderno

Artist, Veronese, 1467 - 1528

The sculpture is a relief depicting two human figures and one body on the ground. The central figure stands with an upright posture, while the other two figures are situated lower, with one bending over the third, which is decapitated. The central person is holding an elongated object in one hand and is leaning against a rectangular form. The fallen figure lies with limbs spread out, and there is a sculpted head with facial features on the ground nearby. The relief has several holes lining the top edge.

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 7.14 × 5.59 cm (2 13/16 × 2 3/16 in.)
    gross weight: 65.86 gr (0.145 lb.)

  • Accession Number

    1942.9.240

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Oscar Hainauer [d. 1894], Berlin; his wife, Julie Hainauer, Berlin; acquired 1906 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); by exchange 21 October 1920 to Joseph E. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1964

  • The Nude in Art, The Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada, 1964, no. 20.

Bibliography

1897

  • Bode, Wilhelm von, ed. Die Sammlung Oscar Hainauer / The Collection of Oscar Hainauer. [bound as one volume, English and German pages interleaved in one page sequence] Berlin, 1897 and London, 1906: no. 151.

1908

  • A Cabinet of One Hundred & Thirty-Three Bronze Plaques and Medals of the Renaissance Period from the Collection of the Late Herr Oscar Hainauer of Berlin. Ed. Duveen Brothers. London, n.d. (but 1908): no. 100, repro.

1942

  • Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 15.

1983

  • Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 108, no. 20.

1989

  • Lewis, Douglas. "The Plaquettes of 'Moderno' and His Followers." Studies in the History of Art 22 (1989): 123, repro.

2013

  • Leino, Marika. Fashion, Devotion and Contemplation: The Status and Functions of Italian Renaissance Plaquettes. Oxford, 2013: 55 fig. 30, 56.

Inscriptions

on reverse, an incised timetelling device, including, in four lines across the bottom, zodiacal signs and abbreviations for the months spelled in canonical Tuscan Italian: [Capricorn] [Aquarius] [Pisces] [Aries] [Taurus] [Gemini] / GEN[NAIO] FEB[RAIO] MAR[ZO] APR[ILE] MAG / NOV[EMBRE] OTT[OBRE] SET[TEMBRE] AGO[STO] LVG[LIO] / [Sagittarius] [Scorpio] [Libra] [Virgo] [Leo] [Cancer]; sideways in the right margin: GIV[GNO]; sideways in the left margin: DEC[EMBRE] [1]

Markings

Reverse formerly bore previous inventory numbers P.10 (for Plaquette no. 10) in black paint (Bode/Thieme 1897/1906) and 100 in white paint (Hainauer/Duveen 1908); painted numerals removed in 1982 cleaning; chemical imprints of the former numbers remain marginally visible.

Wikidata ID

Q63809899

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