Bathseba receiving David's letter

Another version is recorded in the Russell collection, Amsterdam, 1952 (photograph in the RKD); striking is the focus on the yellow silk drapery hanging over the fountain, which debts to Cornelis van Poelenburch whose apprentice he was in Utrecht and which allows an execution in his early years.

The subject is taken from Samuel XI:2-17: King David fell in love with Bathseba, wife of Uriah, an officer in his army, when she was bathing near his palace. He married her, after he had sent Uriah to his death.