King David

Artist Gaetano Gandolfi (Italian, 1734 - 1802)

Dateca. 1776

MediumBlack, white, and red chalk on paper

DimensionsImage: 16 3/8 x 12 1/4 inches (41.59 x 31.12 cm)
Framed: 25 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches (64.77 x 50.17 cm)

Credit LineJoseph F. McCrindle Collection, gift in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Object number2009.11

On View

Not on view

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionStudy of King David holding a harpExhibition History

Exhibition History

Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, P. and D. Colnaghi and Company, London, April 19-May 6, 1966, no. 82, as King David in the Clouds.

Magnificent Gifts for the 75^th, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 13-April 4, 2010, no cat., as King David.

Gallery Label

This is a study for the figure of King David in a fresco of the Assumption of the Virgin Gandolfi painted in Bologna’s Church of Santa Maria della Vita. It shows the Virgin ascending into heaven attended by various Old Testament figures, among whom David is the most prominent. The harp, which David played to calm the tormented King Saul, is one of his best-known attributes.

Provenance

Bologna, Italy, 1873;

Purchased at Messrs. Dowells, Edinburgh, January 22, 1957, lot 121, stock no. 21985, by P. & D. Colnaghi, London, 1957-April 29, 1957 [1];

Purchased from Colnaghi by John Woodward, April 29, 1957-1966;

Purchased from Woodward through Colnaghi by Joseph F. McCrindle (1923-2008), New York, April 20, 1966-2008;

His bequest to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2009.

Notes:

[1] COL3/2/6, Colnaghi Archive, Waddesdon Manor, Windmill Hill, Aylesbury Vale Parkway, UK.

Published References

Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, exh. cat. (London: P. and D. Colnaghi, 1966), unpaginated, as King David in the Clouds.

Hugh MacAndrew, Ashmolean Museum Oxford: Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings, vol. 3, Italian Schools: Supplement (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1980), 163.

Prisco Bagni, I. Gandolfi, Affreschi, Dipinti, Bozzetti, Disegni (Bologna, Italy: Nuova Alfa, 1992).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.