The Story of David and Goliath

This long and fantastically detailed painting is a precious survivor of Renaissance interior decoration – and it gives us an idea of just how spectacular this could be. It’s one of a pair of panels made to commemorate a marriage, perhaps of one of the Medici, the ruling family of fifteenth-century Florence. They were perhaps once set into the panelling of a bed chamber.It shows the story of King David, who started life as a shepherd boy but rose to fame when he killed the giant Goliath, an enemy of Israel. According to the Old Testament, David was left behind when his brothers joined the Israelite army, which was fighting the Philistines. One day his father sent him to the army camp with food for them and he heard the Philistine champion, Goliath, challenge the Israelites to single combat. No one dared to respond even though Saul, King of Israel, promised great rewards to whoever killed the giant – including his daughter’s hand in marriage. In spite of his youth and inexperience, and his brothers' scorn, David offered to fight.On the far left, David sits on the river bank, minding his father’s flocks. The stream helps us follow the narrative: it flows from left to right, in and out of the panel, joining the most important incidents. We next see him bending down to collect five smooth stones to put in the sling which he carries over his shoulder; according to the Bible, he preferred these to conventional weapons. In the corner are the lions which David boasted to the doubtful Saul he had killed.Next, David stands before Saul, who is mounted on a grey horse, and protests against the armour that servants are putting on him: he would rather fight without it. In the centre there’s a violent battle. The Israelites, dressed as contemporary knights in armour, charge the Philistines, who wear turbans. David, in pink, swings his sling, taking aim at the armoured Goliath, whose forehead is already bleeding. Immediately behind him, the Israelite cavalry is led by a knight with a gold torch holder on his surcoat (tunic) – this was an emblem used by the Medici, and is still displayed on the corner of the Palazzo Medici in Florence. Finally, in the foreground, David beheads the fallen giant.Pesellino was influenced by Paolo Uccello, especially in his doll-like, if very conspicuously male, horses. They are similar to those in Uccello’s Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano, though more lifelike. Pesellino had clearly studied real horses – look at the grey and the chestnut struggling in the foreground, and the fallen grey rolling on top of his knight by the river – although he was also influenced by equestrian sculpture. His interest in nature recalls the paintings of Pisanello, though it’s hard to know how much he was influenced by Pisanello, and how much both were catering to the tastes of a sophisticated, courtly audience.