He stands on the platform and hides his face in his arms.
Bible in art · 2 Samuel
David Mourns for Absalom
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
Doré drew this plate for the Tours Bible of 1866, and an engraver signed it at the bottom right. The room is nearly bare, so that nothing distracts from the single standing figure.
David stands alone on a raised platform before a blank wall, his arms crossed over his face. Below and around him, men kneel and bow, wrapped in cloaks; a young man in a white tunic stands at the left. Overhead runs a band of key-pattern ornament, the only decoration in a stark, shadowy room.
From the text
- “The king was shaken and went up to the gate chamber and wept” (2 Samuel 18:33)
- “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!” (2 Samuel 18:33)
- “If only I had died instead of you” (2 Samuel 18:33)
The artist’s own
- A crowd of mourners around David — the text has him go up alone
- A young man in white, perhaps the messenger who brought the news (2 Samuel 18:32)
- Greek key-pattern ornament along the top of the walls
Details
David
A young man
A youth in a white tunic stands at the foot of the steps.
Mourners
Men in cloaks kneel and bow on the steps.
A courtier
A seated man reaches out toward the king.
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. 88 · 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.