Border with David's Return with Goliath's Head

Getty Museum

Border with David's Return with Goliath's Head

Creator

Simon Bening

Flemish Illuminator · 1483–1561

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Artist

One of the most celebrated painters of Flanders in the 1500s, Simon Bening was hailed by Portuguese art critic Francisco da Hollanda as the greatest master of illumination in all of Europe. In addition to producing books for powerful aristocrats such as Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Bening worked for a group of international royal patrons including Emperor Charles V and Don Fernando, the Infan

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Date
about 1525–1530
Medium
Tempera colors, gold paint, and gold leaf
Culture
Flemish
Department
Manuscripts
Institution
Getty Museum

As the young David returns, victorious in battle and carrying the head of Goliath, beautifully dressed women emerge from an impressive castle playing musical instruments to greet him. Medieval Christians saw this episode, which marked the Israelites' triumph over the Philistines, as an Old Testament prefiguration of Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, depicted on the facing page.

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