1617 (ca.), Peter Paul Rubens, David Slaying Goliath -- Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena)
From the museum label: With rippling muscles and drapery billowing around his animated form, Peter Paul Rubens's David, a young shepherd and eventual king of Israel, bears a look of resolve as he prepares to deliver the Philistine warrior Goliath a fatal blow. European artists often capitalized on the perceived righteousness of David's campaign against tyranny, as such representations could serve as metaphors for political and religious triumph. Rubens used similarly dynamic bodies in an ambitious series of mythological paintings for the Torre de la Parada, Philip IV's hunting lodge. Emblematic of Rubens's dual roles as court artist and savvy visiting diplomat to the Spanish crown, the powerful classicized figures in these scenes underscored the might and erudition of the Habsburgs.
1617 (ca.), Peter Paul Rubens, David Slaying Goliath -- Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena)
From the museum label: With rippling muscles and drapery billowing around his animated form, Peter Paul Rubens's David, a young shepherd and eventual king of Israel, bears a look of resolve as he prepares to deliver the Philistine warrior Goliath a fatal blow. European artists often capitalized on the perceived righteousness of David's campaign against tyranny, as such representations could serve as metaphors for political and religious triumph. Rubens used similarly dynamic bodies in an ambitious series of mythological paintings for the Torre de la Parada, Philip IV's hunting lodge. Emblematic of Rubens's dual roles as court artist and savvy visiting diplomat to the Spanish crown, the powerful classicized figures in these scenes underscored the might and erudition of the Habsburgs.