Bible in art · 1 Samuel

David and Goliath (Ms. 23, fol. 121v, from the Crohin-La Fontaine Hours)

Master of the Dresden Prayer Book · about 1480–1485 ?
Getty Center, Los Angeles

The Crohin-La Fontaine Hours, a book of hours from Bruges of about 1480–1485, is credited to the Master of the Dresden Prayer Book or his workshop. Its pages are just over 13 cm tall.

Goliath towers in plate armour with a spiked mace, his visor down. Young David faces him in a blue tunic with a sling, among sheep and a dog, under a wide sky.

From the text

David takes his staff, stones and sling (1 Samuel 17:40)
“You come against me with sword and spear” (1 Samuel 17:45)
David the shepherd (1 Samuel 17:34)

The artist’s own

Goliath in the armour of a 15th-century knight
A Flemish landscape with a church spire
A border of flowers painted around the scene

Details

Goliath

A giant in armour and a black helmet holds a mace.

David

He stands with his sling hanging from his hand.

The sheep

Sheep graze around them.

The border

Gold acanthus leaves on a blue ground.

Master of the Dresden Prayer Book or workshop (Flemish, active about 1480–1515). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Ms. 23 (86.ML.606), fol. 121v) · Tempera colors and gold, on parchment · Images provided here are believed to be in the public domain and are available under CC0 through Getty’s Open Content Program. (Getty record: "No Copyright", http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

The verses

1 Sam 17:40–49And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine. Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome. “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.” As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

See it at the museum’s site