Francesco Solimena Canale di Serino 1657 - 1747 Barra

Robert L. Manning, New York;
From whom purchased by the husband of the present owner in the 1960s.

The present painting would appear to be a modello for the large painting in the Palacio Real de Aranjuez, outside of Madrid.  It depicts the moment when the young David, going out to meet the giant Goliath, refuses to wear Saul’s armor and goes out to meet his foe unprotected (I Samuel 17:38-51).

The Aranjuez painting is one of a series of twelve canvases representing scenes from the lives of Kings David and Solomon.  The final series has been separated between the royal residences of Aranjuez, Madrid and Zarzuela, but was originally commissioned for the royal chapel in yet another palace, that of the Alcázar.  The attributional history of the group has been somewhat contentious, as the original commission for the picture was given by Philip V to Luca Giordano, who had worked for the Spanish court, and who had already painted two large scenes from the life of Solomon around which the other canvases were to be grouped.

Nicola Spinosa has suggested, however, that the series was started by Giordano himself, but was left unfinished at his death in 1705, whereupon the commission was transferred to Solimena (see “Le ‘Storie di David e Salomone’ per l'Alcazar di Madrid: Giordano o Solimena," Studi sul Barocco romano. Scitti in onore di Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco, Milano 2004, pp. 367-372).  Solimena appears to have refused to rework the canvases already begun by Giordano, but undertook the whole series again, although basing them on Giordano’s preparatory designs.  Spinosa believes that these pictures in Spain today, sometimes given to Giordano, are in fact by Solimena.  This seems to be amply supported by the biographer De Dominici who discussed the transfer of the commission and noted that Solimena “non volle por mano a quelli del Giordano, cui egli venerava alpari de’ gran maestri; ma ordinate le tele consimili li dipinse da capo…e le figure del medesimo Luca sol variandole taluna [did not want to touch those (canvases) by Giordano, whom he venerated the equal of the great masters; but having been charged with the paintings, he painted them anew with the same subjects, and changing the figures of Luca only slightly].

We are grateful to Dr. Nicola Spinosa who has confirmed the attribution of the present painting to Solimena based on photographs and believes it to be preparatory for the painting in Spain.