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Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie — 29.1988

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DOI Artikel:
Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko: Hendrick Ter Brugghen's "King David Harping surrounded by four Angels"
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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18904#0016
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7. P. Lastman, David in the Tempie, 1618, panel, 79x117 cm, Brunswick, Herzog Anton.

Ulrich-Museum

An interesting point is that Ter Brugghen painted another work depicting David playing
the harp, although this is no longer extant. On October 12, 1627, the estate of Maria Wttewael,
a woman of Utrecht who had died three months before, was put up for auction. Of these, the
one that brought the highest price (90 guilders) was David Playing the Harp by Ter Brugghen29.
Because the David (Fig. 1) that is the subject of the present article is dated 1628, one year after
the auction, there consequently must have been another David by Ter Brugghen. The simple
description of the work in the records of the auction only mentioned that it is ,,a big David
playing the harp (een groten David spelende op de harp)"30, so that the composition cannot be
determined, but there is a strong possibility that it showed David as a solitary figurę. There
are other instances in wl.ich Ter Brugghen depicted the same subject twice, once as a relaitvely
small-scale composition with half-length figures31. It is possible that in David as well, Ter Brug-
ghen followed a similar sequence, painting a smali canvas first and then a larger one. The above-
-mentioncd work by Honthorst (Fig. 6) shows typically Caravaggesque characteristics in its-
composition. This is understandable when we consider that it was painted at a time (1622)>

29. TJniversiteit Biblioteek Utrecht, CoIIectie Familie papieren Wttewael. ITs7 B3, n°.5. The father of Maria, Johan Wttewae-
was the ,,burgermeester" in Utrecht, and one of his brothers was painter Joachim Wttewael. The painting that concerns
us here is mentioned in the documents as folliws: ,,in den eersten een groten David spelende op de harp gedaen bij ter
Brug 't negentich gulden enz XCgul...". Besides this work, many paintings that belonged to Maria's estetę were sold at.
the same time. See Nieuw Licht..., op. cii., p. 71 and note 99 on p. 101.

30. Ibidem.

31. The Liberation of St. Peter, 1624, Mauritshuis, The Hague; 1629, Staatliches Museum, Schwerin.

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