A terracotta figure of King David, by Lorenzo Vaccaro (1655-1706) Naples, circa 1705

Heim Gallery, London

Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1982, no. 52 (illus.)

Ciechanowiecki 1979, pp. 252-253, (illus.)
Naples 1980, p. 44, no. 290 (illus.)

Standard surface abrasions. Some chips and losses. Some hairline cracks. Old restorations throughout and including: proper right hand and arm, head, base and body. Terracotta-colored pigment applied to surface.
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Andrew Ciechanowiecki published the present figure in 1979, identifying it as a bozetto for Lorenzo Vaccaro's marble King David in the church of S. Ferdinando in Naples.  This model exhibits structural details necessary only in the soft medium of terracotta and not present in the finished marble, such as the support for the harp, otherwise differing only in the level of finish.  These design considerations, as well as a generally sketchy, rapid quality, reveal that it is a preparatory sketch-model for the monument rather than a copy after the finished work.  The statue of King David was in progress when Vaccaro was murdered in Torre del Greco in August 1706; his son Domenico Antonio, only about twenty five at the time, undertook to finish the statue of David and its pendant Moses, in order to preserve their glory for his father's name.