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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.

Object Data

Medium

tempera on leather on wood

Dimensions

overall (width at top): 115.5 x 76.5 cm (45 1/2 x 30 1/8 in.)
overall (width at bottom): 115.5 x 40.6 cm (45 1/2 x 16 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.8

Artists / Makers

Andrea del Castagno (painter) Florentine, before 1419 - 1457

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Detail Information

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.

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
Newton, Eric. The Arts of Man. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1960: 106-107, repro.
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
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:47.
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
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 11.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 17, repro.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 7, 645.
1972
Wittkower, Rudolf. "Desiderio da Settignano's St. Jerome in the Desert." Studies in the History of Art 4 (1971-1972): 6-37, repro.
1973
Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 62.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 58, repro.
1976
Calvocoressi, Richard. "Locko Park. An Important Family Collection." The 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: 1:129-130; 2: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.
199
Olszewski, Edward. "Prophecy and Prolepsis in Donatello's Marble David." Artibus et Historiae 18, 36 (1998): 73-76, fig. 15, 78 n. 45.
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.
2002
Pfisterer, Ulrich. Donatello und die Entdeckung der Stile 1430-1445. Munich, 2002: 398-399, fig. 133.
2002
Quodbach, Esmée. "The Last of the American Versailles: The Widener Collection at Lynnewood Hall." Simiolus 29, no. 1/2 (2002): 73, 81, 95, fig. 32.
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
Lucco, Mauro, and Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa, eds. Giovanni Bellini. Exh. cat. Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 2008: 92.
2008
Tosti, Barbara, ed. Mugello culla del Rinascimento: Giotto, Beato Angelico, Donatello e i Medici. Exh. cat. Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, 2008: 94.
2009
Mack, Rosamund E. "When Armor Was Art: Exploring Images of Armor in the National Gallery of Art Collections." Washington, 1990: color repro.
2010
Bober, Phyllis Pray and Ruther Rubinstein. Renaissance Artists & Antique Sculpture: A Handbook of Sources. 2nd ed. London, 2010: 31, 39, 45 nt. 12, 151, 477, fig. 6.
2010
Bredekamp, Horst. Theorie des Bildakts. Frankfurter-Adorno-Vorlesungen, 2007. Berlin, 2010: 298-299, fig. 191. New edition, Berlin, 2015: 292-293, fig. 187.
2011
Pergam, Elizabeth A. The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857: Entrepreneurs, 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.
2015
Dunlop, Anne. Andrea del Castagno and the Limits of Painting. Turnhout, 2015: 18, 47-52, 60-61, 63, 65, 67-68, 89, 133, 147 n. 83, 147 n. 2, 147 n.3, figs. 15-18.
2021
Ekserdjian, David. "The northern Renaissance response to the Antique before the Sack of Rome." Colnaghi Studies Journal 8 (March 2021): 19-20.

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