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This shield-shaped painting shows a young man with pale, peachy skin and curling brown hair standing astride the severed head of a man with dark hair and tanned skin. The painting is wider at the top and tapers like a pint glass to a narrower base. The young man, David, holds the end of long red slingshot with his right hand. The slingshot is weighted by a rock and swings behind his body. His sleeveless rust-red garment is cinched at his waist over a long white shirt. Both garments skim David’s thighs and his legs and feet are bare. Long, curling brown hair frames the ashen and bloodied upturned face of the head at David’s feet. A palm-sized stone is embedded in that forehead. The landscape background is made up of gray boulders, a meandering river, and low palm-like trees. Frothy white clouds sweep across an azure-blue sky.

David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1450/1455

Andrea del Castagno

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 4

This gruesome scene is from the Old Testament story of David defeating the giant Goliath. David is shown swinging the slingshot that brought down Goliath, whose severed head lies on the ground. Castagno uses David’s intense expression, fluttering clothing, and wind-blown hair to create a sense of drama.

David was a political symbol for the artist’s home city of Florence, which often had to fend off larger, more powerful enemies. This is a rare example of a ceremonial parade shield that features a narrative scene by an acclaimed artist. Under the paint, we can see five bolts that once attached the shield to its carrying straps.

Dive deeper

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.
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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.

[1] See Richard Calvocoressi, "Locko Park. An Important Family Collection," Connoisseur 192 (June 1976): 141.

[2] See W.D.N. Drury-Lowe's preface in Jean Paul Richter, Catalogue of Pictures at Locko Park, London, 1901, as well as John Cornforth, "Locko Park, Derbyshire - II," Country Life (12 June 1969): 1506-1507, where a stay of William Drury-Lowe in Italy in 1852-1853 is mentioned. See also Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner, 34 vols., London, 1996: G:306.

[3] See the introduction by George Hughes-Hartman in Nottingham University Art Gallery. Pictures from Locko Park, Derbyshire. Illustrated Catalogue, Notthingham, 1968: n.p.

[4] As explained by G. Hughes-Hartman (in a letter of 12 February 1991, in NGA curatorial files) to Rolf Bagemihl, "Captain Hanbury [probably]...was an impecunious gentleman rather than a dealer, acting as an intermediary." According to a copy of a letter of 2 November 1920 from Thomas Agnew & Sons concerning the sale of Locko Park pictures (this also supplied by Mr. Hughes-Hartman), the shield now in the NGA "was bought by us from Captain Hanbury in November 1912 for 2,000 Pounds and delivered to Messrs. Sulley in the same month." The letter adds that, "as is usually the case when we purchase pictures from private individuals," copies were made free of charge also of the paintings coming from Locko Park. The copy of the shield is still there today.

[5] Widener collection records and letters from Sulley to Bernard Berenson (copies in NGA curatorial files). A letter of 15 January 1913 informs Berenson that the shield has been acquired by P.A.B. Widener. See also David Alan Brown, "Berenson's Contribution to Scholarship, Taste, and Collecting," in Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979: 21.

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Drury-Lowe, William
Drury-Lowe, William Drury
Drury-Lowe, William Drury Nathaniel
Sulley & Co., Arthur J.
Widener, Joseph E.

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

1913: Cagnola, Guido. “Il ‘Davide’ di Andrea del Castagno.” Rassegna d’Arte 13 (1913): 49, repro.

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.

1943: Richter, George M. Andrea del Castago. Chicago, 1943: 12, 16, 17, repro.

1944: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 34, color repro.

1945: Fiocco, Giuseppe. La pittura toscana del Quattrocento. Novara, 1945: xxii.

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.

1967: Bellosi, Luciano. "Intorno ad Andrea del Castagno." Paragone 18, no. 211 (1967): 5, 8, 9, 16 n. 5, fig. 2.

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.

1993: Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 378, fig. 442.

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.