David and Goliath (or David with the Head of Goliath or David Victorious over Goliath) is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio (1571-1610). It was painted about 1599, and is held in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Two later versions of the same theme are currently to be seen in Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (David with the Head of Goliath (Vienna)) , and in Rome's Galleria Borghese (David with the Head of Goliath).

David and Goliath

Artist	Caravaggio
Year	1599
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	110 cm × 91 cm (43 in × 36 in)
Location	Prado

The David and Goliath in the Prado was painted in the early part of the artist's career, while he was a member of the household of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte. It shows the Biblical David as a young boy (in accordance with the Bible story) fastening the head of the champion of the Philistines, the giant Goliath, by the hair. The light catches on David's leg, arm and flank, on the massive shoulders from which Goliath's head has been severed, and on the head itself, but everything else is dark. Even David's face is almost invisible in the shadows. A wound on Goliath's forehead shows where he has been felled by the stone from David's sling. The overwhelming impression is of some action intensely personal and private - no triumph, no armies, no victory.

Caravaggio originally showed Goliath's face fixed in wild-eyed open-mouthed terror, tongue rolling, eyeballs swivelled to the edges of the sockets^{[citation needed]}. In the finished painting the melodrama is banished: the drama is transferred from Goliath to the quietly efficient David, his face almost hidden, intent on the work of his hands in his enemy's hair, kneeling almost casually on the man's torso.

This painting and two others done at about the same time - the first version of Sacrifice of Isaac and the first John the Baptist - were taken to Spain shortly after they were made, where they were frequently copied and made a deep impression on art in that country.

[edit] References

• Langdon, Helen (1998). Caravaggio: A Life. ISBN 0-374-11894-9. 
• Robb, Peter (1998). M. ISBN 0-312-27474-2. 

v • d • e Caravaggio List of works 1593–1594 Boy Peeling Fruit (c. 1592) · Young Sick Bacchus (c. 1593) · Boy with a Basket of Fruit · The Fortune Teller (Buona ventura) (c. 1594) · Cardsharps (I bari) (c. 1594) 1595–1599 the Del Monte paintings The Musicians (c. 1595) · Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1595) · Saint Francis in Meditation (c. 1595) · Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1596) · Apollo the Lute Player (c. 1596) · The Lute Player (c. 1596) · Bacchus (c. 1596) · Penitent Magdalene (c. 1597) · Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1597) · Medusa (c. 1597) · Portrait of a Courtesan (Fillide Melandroni) (c. 1597) · Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (c. 1597) · The Fortune Teller (c. 1597–98) · Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1598) · The Sacrifice of Isaac (Princeton version) (c. 1598) · John the Baptist (c. 1598) · Martha and Mary Magdalene (c. 1598) · Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (1598) · Basket of Fruit (c. 1599) · Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1599) · David and Goliath (c. 1599) · Narcissus (c. 1599) · Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1600) 1600–1606 Most famous painter in Rome The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599–1600) · The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599–1600) · The Conversion of Saint Paul (1600) · The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (1601) · The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus (1601) · Supper at Emmaus (London) (1601) · The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew · Amor Victorious (1602) · Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602) · The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602) · John the Baptist (Capitoline) (1602) · John the Baptist (Pamphilij) (c. 1602) · The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (c. 1602) · The Taking of Christ (1602) · Saint Francis in Meditation (Cappuccini) (c. 1603) · The Entombment of Christ (c. 1603) · The Sacrifice of Isaac (1603) · Madonna of Loreto (Madonna dei Pellegrini, Pilgrims' Madonna) (c. 1604) · John the Baptist (Kansas City) (1604) · John the Baptist (Palazzo Corsini) (1604) · The Crowning with Thorns (Prato) (1604) · The Death of the Virgin (1604) · Christ on the Mount of Olives (1605) · Ecce Homo (c. 1605) · Saint Jerome in Meditation (c. 1605) · Saint Jerome Writing (Borghese) (c. 1605) · Portrait of Pope Paul V (1605) · Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge (1605) · Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Madonna de Palafrenieri, Grooms' Madonna) (1606) 1606–1608 Naples and Malta Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (1606) · Saint Francis in Prayer (Cremona) (1606) · Supper at Emmaus (Milan) (1606) · The Seven Works of Mercy (1606) · The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (1607) · David with the Head of Goliath (Vienna) (1607) · Madonna of the Rosary (1607) · The Crowning with Thorns (Vienna) (1607) · The Flagellation of Christ (c. 1607) · Christ at the Column (c. 1607) · Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (London) (c. 1607) · Saint Jerome Writing (Valletta) (1607) · Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page (1607–1608) · Portrait of Fra Antionio Martelli (1608) · The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608) · Sleeping Cupid (1608) · John the Baptist (John the Baptist at the Fountain) (1608) 1608–1610 Sicily and Naples The Annunciation (1608) · Burial of St. Lucy (1608) · The Raising of Lazarus (1609) · Adoration of the Shepherds (1609) · Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (1609) · Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid) (1609) · Denial of Saint Peter (1610) · John the Baptist (Borghese) (1610) · The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610) · David with the Head of Goliath (1610) Works attributed to Caravaggio Still Life with Flowers and Fruit · John the Baptist (Reclining) (1610) · The Tooth Puller (1607–1609) · John the Baptist (Basel) · Boy Peeling a Fruit (c. 1593) · Holy Family with St. John the Baptist · Cardsharps (pre-1594)