David kneels with his hands joined and his face turned up.
Bible in art · 2 Samuel
David in Prayer
Rembrandt · 1652
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Rembrandt etched this plate in 1652. He gave it no verse; the harp on the floor tells us it is David, and the print is often linked with David pleading for his sick child.
The king kneels by a great curtained bed, hands joined, face lifted. His harp lies on the floor in front of him. Most of the light falls on his pale robe; the bed curtains are dark with close hatching.
From the text
- David pleading with God for the child (2 Samuel 12:16)
- David the harp player (1 Samuel 16:23)
The artist’s own
- A rich bedroom with a curtained bed; the text says he lay on the ground in sackcloth
- A harp laid aside, and books on a stool
Details
At prayer
The harp
His harp lies on its side on the floor.
The bed
Heavy curtains hang from the canopy, drawn with dense hatching.
Books
A pile of books on a stool by the wall.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Mr and Mrs De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland; RP-P-1961-1000A) · Etching and drypoint · Image: "Public Domain" (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/); object metadata: CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) — Rijksmuseum Linked Art record.