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work of the month

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“And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.”

(I Samuel 17:49-50)

The biblical story of David and Saul (I Samuel 16-31) begins when David, a shepherd of Bethlehem, was anointed as God’s favorite instead of King Saul of Israel. Saul was God’s favorite until he displeased God by not feeding his soldiers before combat.

David defeated the Philistine giant, Goliath, in battle, and as a reward, he was summoned to the royal court and appointed as armor-bearer to Saul. While at court, David befriended the king’s son, Jonathan, and gained distinction in the Philistine wars. David’s military success marked the beginning of Saul’s jealousy, as David became more popular than he with his subjects.

Saul sent David to captain his armies fighting the Philistines, but his anger with David was not dispelled. When David returned, Saul offered him his oldest daughter, Mehrab, in marriage. However, when it came time for her to be given to David, she was wed to another man instead. Saul gave his other daughter, Michal—who loved David—to him in hopes that the distraction of a wife would lead to his death at the hands of the Philistines. Saul finally decided to kill David and entreated his son Jonathan to help him. Jonathan also loved his brother-in-law, however, and told him of his father’s plans. With the help of his wife, David escaped the messengers sent to slay him.

When Saul and his four sons died in a battle against the Philistines, David returned to his former home. He was anointed King of Israel in 993 BC, defeated all of Israel’s enemies—including the Philistines—captured Jerusalem, and made it his capital.

The scene depicted here is after David has killed Goliath. He has presented the head of the giant to King Saul, who holds it in one hand and the slingshot used to fell him in the other. Della Vecchia meant to show Saul’s overwhelming jealousy of David and distress at being out of favor with the Lord. The wildness of Saul’s hair and features clearly exposes his torment, and the strong contrast of light and dark heightens the drama of his psychological state. As the story tells us, Saul is replaced in the Lord’s affections by David, who had befriended Saul’s son and gained the love of his people and daughter. In fact, David also saved Saul from himself when Saul was mentally ill, by playing an instrument to bring him out of his madness. These episodes all served to bring out Saul’s fear and hatred of the younger man, and they are clearly on display in this painting.

Who was the artist of this work?

Pietro della Vecchia was the leading religious painter in Venice during the 1630s. He was mistakenly known to the modern world as “Pietro Muttoni” until 1984, as a result of a mix-up by the 18th-century art historian Luigi Lanzi in his Storia pittorica della Italia (A History of Italian Painting).

While della Vecchia’s father, Gasparo, was an artist registered with the Venetian guild, della Vecchia studied with Alessandro Varotari (1588-1648). Varotari, known as Padovanino, was one of the most important painters of early 17th-century Venice. His large and successful school probably inspired della Vecchia, who later opened his own school and was one of the founding members of the Collegio dei Pittori, a predecessor to the Venetian Academy created in 1752.

Della Vecchia is linked through marriage to another great Venetian painter of the time, Nicolas Régnier (Nicolò Renieri, 1591-1667). Régnier, della Vecchia’s father-in-law, painted in the style of Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi, 1573-1610). Several of Régnier’s works are in the Chrysler’s Permanent Collection, such as the Saint Sebastian in this gallery. Together, della Vecchia and Régnier were two of the leading connoisseurs of painting in Venice. They acted as agents for many prestigious Venetians and other Italians, including the celebrated collector Leopold de’ Medici, a member of the famous Florentine ruling family.

Della Vecchia’s bold representation of his subjects, as well as his use of pronounced chiaroscuro, suggest that he may have traveled to Rome and seen the work of Caravaggio, who used these techniques frequently in his work. It is also possible that della Vecchia was exposed to this style through the artist Carlo Saraceni, a Venetian artist who studied in Rome and became a disciple of Caravaggio.

Chiaroscuro—Pictorial representation in terms of light and shade without regard to color.

What is Baroque?

Baroque was not only an art movement, but it was also a cultural movement that affected literature, theater, and music. Baroque art emerged in Europe around 1600 as a reaction against the intricate and formulaic Mannerist style of the High Renaissance. Before it was dubbed Baroque—referring to the style’s excess of drama—a common definition called this genre simply the style of “Flying Forms.”

Encouraged by the Catholic Church, Baroque art represented a return to tradition and spirituality, a major goal of the Counter Reformation. This movement was instituted by the Catholic Church as a response to the Protestant Reformation that had recently swept through Europe, damaging the image of Catholicism. Baroque was a style that was meant to return prestige to the papacy and give it a formal, imposing form of expression. In 1545 the Council of Trent determined that art of the period should speak to the illiterate, rather than those who were already well-versed in scripture. Church leaders also wanted art that would cultivate piety and bring wayward believers back to the Roman Catholic Church.

Baroque artists like della Vecchia meant to evoke emotions from the viewer by appealing to the senses, as well as adding emotion and personality to their subjects. The dramatic emotion we see here in della Vecchia’s piece is very much indicative of the Baroque style. To achieve such a high level of feeling, the artist used strong contrasts of light and shadow as well as intense realism and detail.

The biblical story pictured may have been intended to educate the public and indeed provided Baroque Christians with an example of what not to do (seen in the actions of Saul). As della Vecchia was considered the top religious painter in Venice at the time, he clearly understood the story and was able to bring out the passionate spirituality that the Baroque period valued.

—Corinne Everett, 2004 Education Intern
with Kristi McMillan

SOURCES

Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., ex. cat. Norfolk, VA: Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, 1967.

Venetian Baroque Painters, ex. cat. New York: Finch College Museum of Art, 1964.

Sewter, A.C. Baroque and Rococo. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1972.

For more information on Pietro della Vecchia, please visit www.nga.gov.