David Playing before Saul

1853

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

Associated Names
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

Artist, American, born Germany, 1816 - 1868

The image shows multiple figures in various poses. The central figure is a man with an athletic build, shown in full body. He is slightly turned to the side, looking over his shoulder towards the group behind him. He has short, curly dark hair and is wearing a short, striped cloth wrapped around his waist. He carries a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder and a bow in his other hand. Surrounding him are several other individuals; an older man with long hair and a beard raising his arm, a seated woman in a flowing dress with a prominent belt, and several other figures in the background, some wearing armor and helmets. The environment is reminiscent of a grand, ancient setting, possibly a hall with large arches and columns. The foreground includes a kneeling young person handling an incense burner from which smoke rises, and various ornaments and vessels are scattered around. The entire scene is captured in a monochromatic, shaded style typical of graphite or charcoal drawings.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    lithograph in black on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Corcoran Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 20.48 × 14.61 cm (8 1/16 × 5 3/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2015.19.273


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Rear Admiral Eugene Henry Cozzens Leutze (son of the artist), New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1917; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1972

  • The Dusseldorf Academy and the Americans, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 1972-1973

1976

  • The Hudson on the Rhine, Kuntsmuseum, Dusseldorf; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany, 1976

Bibliography

1975

  • Groseclose, Barbara S. Emanuel Leutze, 1816-1868: Freedom is the Only King. Washington, DC: National Collection of Fine Arts, 1975, p. 127, no. 261.

Inscriptions

lower right on stone: E Leutze 1853

Wikidata ID

Q77012232

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