Michal Lets David Escape

Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw

Doré designed this upright plate for the Bible of 1866; the tall format suits the long drop from the window to the ground. The wood engraver kept the wall pale and rough, so that the climbing figure stands out against it.

Michal leans out between carved columns of an upper window, holding the end of a long band of cloth and looking anxiously along the street. David, barefoot, slides down it along the bare wall. Palms and climbing plants frame the house under a pale sky.

From the text

Saul sent messengers to watch David’s house (1 Samuel 19:11)

“If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!” (1 Samuel 19:11)

“So Michal lowered David from the window” (1 Samuel 19:12)

The artist’s own

A long band of cloth tied to a pole — the text does not say how she let him down

A house with carved columns and arches like a Moorish palace

Palm trees and climbing plants around the wall

Details

Michal

She leans out of the window and looks out for the watchers.

David

He slides down the cloth, barefoot, along the wall.

The cloth

A long band of cloth hangs from a pole across the window.

Palm

A palm tree spreads its fronds beside the house.

Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 1, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1873 (acc. 75.267 A), tabl. 76 · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.