David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio, ca. 1600. Recorded live on November 16, 2022
hi and welcome again to the Prada Museum we’re here with our weekly sessions in English live on The Prado social media and just a few moments before the museum opens and this is a project that is supported by American Friends of the Prada Museum and we encourage everyone to find out more about the programs and that we do to help the museum either with the fundation Amigos in Spain or the American friends we’re here in room six today with a wonderful work by the famous baroque artist Caravaggio famous for his art and also famous for his biography but it is a work that is a representation of the biblical scene dated as a young Shepherd who is triumphant over Goliath the giant um David here is a young Shepherd boy this is taken from first Samuel 17 and if we remember that David is a very important character protagonist in the Old Testament a leader of Israel who goes on to become from this humble beginning of a Shepherd boy goes on to become a great king of Israel he is the father of King Solomon he is considered writer of the Psalms he is also the genealogy that leads up to Jesus and the New Testament so he is a very important figure and his kind of Discovery in the Bible is this feat of triumphant over the horrible Goliath who was the Philistine giant almost nine feet tall that would come out and there were fighting armies the Israelites and the Philistines and the giant would come out and mock the taunt the Israelites saying who dare come out and fight me and I will kill you all and everyone was afraid the Israelites were afraid until David the young Shepherd boy who was too young to be in the battle and he was sent out just because to see how his brothers were doing he found out he said I will take on the Giant and what he did how he did was this is a great story of Faith how his faith gives him the courage and faith in and just kind of overcome what seems to be impossible and here Caravaggio is making this representation kind of in his style in the sense that he uses tenebrism which is what we call a very dark background is famous and very influential for this a dark background and he uses strong light to model a very focused directed light from the side to model the figure and make them emerge from this dark background and here uh more faithful to the biblical idea of how young and improbable it was that a little boy David maybe 12 13 would be triumphant over Goliath Caravaggio paints him here as a young boy you know I also like to think about other images of David like David by Michelangelo who was idealized Monumental but here he’s young and an improbable Victor what do we see is that David here in this very strong foreshortening it’s kind of his face is even in the shadow and these are not the most important details are here is his shoulder his figure and that he’s tying the head the dead decapitated Goliath he’s taught using this rope to tie his hair because he will lift it up and show it triumphantly there are two other compositions of David and Goliath by karavaju that we know that are in a different format where he’s holding the head up triumphant with his Victor but here we’re in the process right before that action um what I’d like to point out is that in the story David he uh he doesn’t he rejects wearing an armor to go into the battle with Goliath and he only takes up stones and we see the stones these he he picks up stones from the river and he takes his sling and because of the sling he from afar uh tells Goliath that I come to you in the name of the Lord you come to me with the Sword and the shield but I will be a triumphant and he hits him with his sling with the with the stone and we see that’s what knocks him out kind of like a boxer it knocks him out here and then very calmly I mean we just see young David here he is he’s shot he’s he’s hit he’s hit the mon he’s hit the Giant and then he takes the giant sword and decapitates him so here we also have the end of this uh spasm of Goliath also here in the in his in his hand the fist where it’s you know kind of with the pain of of being killed and and just this you know really kind of you know very naturalist approach uh Caravaggio was very important that he used natural live models and this would cause a great you know sensation throughout European painting that he would use the live models and very much focus them with the light and then this painting itself we know comes from the Royal collection we don’t know how it arrives in in the Royal collection but it is with this inventory number this is the inventory number that comes from King Charles III’s uh um inheritance you know upon his death when his when all of his goods are being inventoried and this is that inventory number so it’s in the collection before Charles III it was in the Palace of of the buen retiro and from there Caravaggio uh was very influential in how the how the museum has hung this painting is wonderful because in the paintings right next to it we have other models that follow the same model of young David here in the in with this other serodine painting and also his influence with oracio gentileschi which is on the other side and in the same room we also have a painter which is Arpino without we know that young Caravaggio when he was trying to make his way in Rome would actually had actually worked in his Workshop so there’s you know quite a family relationship here with his influence and in the following room when you come to the museum there’s a whole room dedicated to the wake in the wake of Caravaggio his influence in the caravagisma karavajism is the followers of painters how for three really strong for the following three decades kataraja was kind of the avant-garde in Rome artists would come to Rome both looking to see classical art as well as what’s happening new and they would in Caravaggio was a new thing his approach was nil and he was very influential throughout Europe but especially in Spain his painting technique was picked up by Ribera although adapted to a different form and his great naturalism also came to Seville where Velasquez was trained so caravaggio’s painting this is a work right at 1600. remember that Velazquez is born in 1599. he will Caravaggio will die in 1610 but his influence is reaching already Seville when Velasquez is in his training so this strong naturalism that is in Velasquez’s young works well it comes from the earlier painting of Caravaggio so there’s lots more to learn and it’s been really fun preparing this preparing this session and we welcome you always to come to the museum to keep learning and thank you for listening to us and we’ll help you to see you again next week
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