Claude, 'Landscape with David at the Cave of Adullam', 1658
About the work
Overview
King David and his companions emerge from the cave of Adullam. They cannot enter the city of Bethlehem and the valley below as the Philistines, whose pitched tents are just visible in the bottom left corner, occupy both. Nevertheless, three of the King’s soldiers have bravely ventured out to fulfil his wish for a drink of water, and they have returned to offer it to him. The King raises his hands, refusing to drink. He is ashamed at having risked their lives and offers the water instead to God. This scene closely follows the account in the Old Testament book of Samuel, which was rarely painted during the seventeenth century.
The composition, with its foreground activity framed by a tree and cave, leading to a hazy evening sky, is typical of Claude’s idealised landscapes. Close inspection reveals many intricate details: different plants have been placed along the bottom edge, the valley is occupied by small-scale animated figures, and buildings merge with the landscape beyond.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Landscape with David at the Cave of Adullam
- Artist
- Claude
- Artist dates
- 1604/5? - 1682
- Date made
- 1658
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 111.4 × 186.5 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Holwell Carr Bequest, 1831
- Inventory number
- NG6
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Commissioned by Prince Agostino Chigi (1634–1705) and recorded in his collection in the Palazzo Chigi Odescalchi, Piazza Santi Apostoli, Rome, in 1658; recorded in the bedroom next to the audience room of the Palazzo Chigi, Piazza Colonna, in the collection of Prince Sigismondo Chigi (1736–93) in 1770; noted at the same palazzo by Ramdohr in 1787; recorded there in the collection of Prince Agostino Chigi (1761–1855) in 1793; acquired by the English banker Robert Sloane (d. 1802) in Rome in 1799; the subject of unsuccessful sale negotiations in Rome in 1802/3 between Alexander Sloane on behalf of himself and his co-heirs and James Irvine on behalf of William Buchanan; brought to England by Alexander Sloane possibly by July 1803 and offered by the Sloane family at auction, London, Peter Coxe, Burrell & Foster, 2 June 1804 (lot 73, bought in at £1354 10s., as ‘Claude… A Landscape, with Alexander in the Desart [sic]; from the Chigi Palace’); probably still in the Sloane family’s possession in January 1805, and at an unknown date thereafter bought by the dealer William Buchanan and sold by him in 1808 to Walsh Porter (d. 1809); offered by Buchanan as executor for Walsh Porter deceased by private contract at 39 Sackville Street, 12ff. March 1810, no. 3, and then in the Walsh Porter deceased sale, Christie’s, 14 April 1810 (lot 46 as ‘Sinon before Priam’, sold (?) £2887 10s. to Barrett), and sold to the Revd W. Holwell Carr for 2000 guineas ‘soon after’ but certainly by 1815; Holwell Carr Bequest, 1831.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings’, London 2001; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1787F.W.B. von Ramdohr, Über Mahlerei und Bildhauerarbeit in Rom für Liebhaber des Schönen in der Kunst, Leipzig 1787
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1810J. Christie, A Catalogue of the Magnificent Collection of Italian, French, Flemish and Dutch Pictures, the Genuine and Sole Property of the Late Walsh Porter, London, 14 April 1810
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1824W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
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1830
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
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1884Mme Pattison, Claude Lorrain, sa vie et ses oeuvres, Paris 1884
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1903J. Ruskin, Modern Painters, eds E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, The Works of John Ruskin, 39 vols, London 1903
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1946Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, London 1946
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1956E. Knab, 'Der heutige Bestand an Zeichnungen Claude Lorrains im Boymans Museum', Bulletin Museum Boymans Rotterdam, VII, 1956, pp. 103-40
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1957Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
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1961M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain: The Paintings, London 1961
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1965J. Ziff, 'Copies of Claude's Paintings in the Sketchbooks of J.M.W.Turner', Gazette des beaux-arts, LXV, 1965, pp. 51-64
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1969M. Kitson, The Art of Claude Lorrain (exh. cat. Laing Art Gallery, 27 September - 26 October 1969), London 1969
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1975M. Röthlisberger, L'opera completa di Claude Lorrain, Milan 1975
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1978M. Kitson, Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis, London 1978
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1989H. Langdon, Claude Lorrain, Oxford 1989
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1991B.B. Fredericksen, 'A Pair of Pendant Pictures by Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa from the Chigi Collection', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIII/1061, 1991, pp. 543-6
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1992H. Wine and O. Koester, Fransk Guldalder: Poussin and Claude and French Painting of the Seventeenth Century, (exh. cat. Statens Museum for Kunst, 29 February - 3 May 1992), Copenhagen 1992
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1994H. Wine, Claude: The Poetic Landscape (exh. cat. The National Gallery, London, 26 January - 10 April 1994), London 1994
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1995R. Maclean, '"O Gran Principe O Gran Prelato": Claude's Roman Patrons and the Appeal of His Landscape Easel Paintings', Gazette des beaux-arts, 1995, pp. 223-34
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1996E.W. Rowlands, The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Italian Paintings 1300-1800, Kansas City 1996
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1996W. Schade, Claude Lorrain: Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Munich 1996
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1998A. Kofuku and Y. Kohari, Claude Lorrain and the Ideal Landscape, (exh. cat. National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo), 15 September - 6 December 1998), Tokyo 1998
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2000J. Armstrong, The Intimate Philosophy of Art, London 2000
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2000M. Kitson, Studies on Claude and Poussin, London 2000
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2000G. Pessach, Landscapes of the Bible: Sacred Scenes in European Master Paintings (exh. cat. The Israel Museum, Autumn 2000), Jerusalem 2000
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2001Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings, London 2001
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2002I. Warrell, Turner et le Lorrain, Paris 2002
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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