DOI issue:
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DOI article:Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko: Hendrick Ter Brugghen's "King David Harping surrounded by four Angels"
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18904#0013
5. B. Passerotti, King David, Romę, Galleria Spada
and dancing", „with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musie". This scenę, which
comes to be depicted mainly from the fifteenth century on, was also undertaken by Lucas van
Leyden17, wbo is believed, to have greatly influenced Ter Brugghen18. Therefore this subject
-cannot necessarily be considered solely in the context of Caravaggism. At the least, though,
Ter Brugghen's composition, which places the subjects as half-lcngth figures close to the surface
of the picture piane, reflects the characteristic features of the Caravaggesque movement.
Along with such subjects taken from David's life, another that is repeatedly employed in the
visual arts is that of David as Psalmist. The David (Fig. 1) that is the theme of the present article
belongs to this category. In this case, David is shown as a bearded king, wearing a crown and
holding a harp or some other stringed instrument as an attribute. This type of depiction also
dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was often used in illustrations or illuminated initials o
17. Triumph of David, engraving, c. 1513, 10,5x8,5 cm, Bartsch 26.
■18. B. Nicolson, Terbrugghen, on. clt., justly points out the influences from Lucas and Dirrer on Ter Brugghcn's paintings
but he does it only very broadly. The present author's research reveals the following correspondences between the motifs
i n Ter Brugghen paintings and those in the woodcuts of these two artists: Laban and Jacob, Laban ani Lea (National Gallery
London) from Joseph telling his dreams (B. 19) by Lucas; two elders in the rigbt baekground of Crouming of Christ (National
Museum, Copcnbagen) from John the Baptist (B. 125) and Crowning of Christ (B. 34), an elder in the Beheading of John
the Baptist (Nelson Atkins Gallery, Kansas City) from the print with the same subject (B. 125) and an elder in the Beheading
of St. Calherine (Chrj sler Museum, Norfolk) from the Crowning of Christ (B. 34) by Diirer.
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and dancing", „with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musie". This scenę, which
comes to be depicted mainly from the fifteenth century on, was also undertaken by Lucas van
Leyden17, wbo is believed, to have greatly influenced Ter Brugghen18. Therefore this subject
-cannot necessarily be considered solely in the context of Caravaggism. At the least, though,
Ter Brugghen's composition, which places the subjects as half-lcngth figures close to the surface
of the picture piane, reflects the characteristic features of the Caravaggesque movement.
Along with such subjects taken from David's life, another that is repeatedly employed in the
visual arts is that of David as Psalmist. The David (Fig. 1) that is the theme of the present article
belongs to this category. In this case, David is shown as a bearded king, wearing a crown and
holding a harp or some other stringed instrument as an attribute. This type of depiction also
dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was often used in illustrations or illuminated initials o
17. Triumph of David, engraving, c. 1513, 10,5x8,5 cm, Bartsch 26.
■18. B. Nicolson, Terbrugghen, on. clt., justly points out the influences from Lucas and Dirrer on Ter Brugghcn's paintings
but he does it only very broadly. The present author's research reveals the following correspondences between the motifs
i n Ter Brugghen paintings and those in the woodcuts of these two artists: Laban and Jacob, Laban ani Lea (National Gallery
London) from Joseph telling his dreams (B. 19) by Lucas; two elders in the rigbt baekground of Crouming of Christ (National
Museum, Copcnbagen) from John the Baptist (B. 125) and Crowning of Christ (B. 34), an elder in the Beheading of John
the Baptist (Nelson Atkins Gallery, Kansas City) from the print with the same subject (B. 125) and an elder in the Beheading
of St. Calherine (Chrj sler Museum, Norfolk) from the Crowning of Christ (B. 34) by Diirer.
7