(Naples 1634–1705)
King David reproached by the prophet Gad,
oil on canvas, 182.5 x 165 cm, framed

We are grateful to Giuseppe Scavizzi for confirming the attribution to Luca Giordano on the basis of a high resolution digital photgraph. He has dated it to the 1670s.

We are grateful to Vilmos Tátrai for independently suggesting the attribution and for his help in identifying the subject of the present painting.

A similar painting was published by Vincenzo Pacelli (see V. Pacelli, Inediti e considerazioni, in: Studi di storia dell’arte n. 17, 2006, fig. 1). The painting represents King David being reproached by the prophet Gad during the pestilence that struck the Jewish nation.

The subject matter in the present painting is rarely depicted. It comes from an Old Testament story (2 Sam. 24: 10-24). To punish King David who wanted to display his power by taking a census of his people, the Lord brought a plague upon Israel through an avenging angel. Seeking forgiveness for his sin, the king was approached by the prophet Gad who ordered him, in the name of God, to erect an altar that would end the terrible scourge. The picture depicts the moment when David, stripped of his royal attributes – his crown and the rich cloak appear on the ground in the foreground – submits himself on his knees before the angel of the Lord, shown at the top centre of the painting. Facing David, the prophet Gad shows the king how to remedy his fault, while the background shows the victims struck by the plague. The light emanating from the angel is reflected on the faces and clothes of the protagonists and contrasts with the otherwise dominant brown tones, enhancing the sense of drama in the scene.

Painted by Luca Giordano, this work is of the same subject noted by Andor Pigler as coming from the Escorial church (see: A. Pigler, Barockthemen: eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Budapest 1974, vol. I, p. 160), where the artist was active in the last decade of the 17th century.

Luca Giordano was one of the greatest exponents of the Neapolitan Baroque. As a student of Jusepe de Ribera, the initial phase of his artistic output showed an interest in Caravaggesque naturalism. His style developed with the use of a richer palette and a new freedom of expression derived from the influence of his trips to Rome, Venice and Parma. During his long and prolific career, he produced prestigious works, not only in Naples but also in Florence, Venice and Padua, and he was called by King Charles II to Spain. There he worked at the Escorial, the Royal Palace of Madrid and the cathedral of Toledo.