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拍品專文
This monumental canvas is a mature work by the great Italian Baroque painter, Mattia Preti, most likely datable to the first half of the 1670s once the artist had settled in Malta. Its subject is taken from the Old Testament (1 Samuel 16: 1-13) and depicts the prophet Samuel anointing David. According to the biblical account, the prophet had been tasked with finding a new king of Israel from among the seven sons of Jesse of Bethlehem. As Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel, they were each rejected one by one. Finally, when the last had been cast aside, Samuel asked Jesse whether he had indeed seen all of his sons, '"There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”’ David was brought to Samuel, ‘He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”’ The young David kneels at the centre of the composition here, leaning towards Samuel who bends over slightly and pours oil from a horn upon the boy's head. David is dressed in ragged clothes with a simple sheepskin tied across his torso, indicating his humble status as a shepherd. Though David's arms are muscular and his body strong from manual labour, his soft features and rounded cheeks indicate his youth.
As observed by James Clifton at the time of this painting’s exhibition in 1987 (op. cit.), Preti must have encountered Paolo Veronese’s treatment of this subject, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (fig. 1). Veronese’s composition is harmonious and distinctly classical in style, with figures set out across the picture plane as if part of a classical frieze, and the view is more expansive, incorporating ancient ruins and an Arcadian landscape beyond. Preti’s representation, by contrast, is characteristically dynamic and tense, with life-size figures filling the entire picture field and leaving little room for an architectural or landscape setting. The varied, lively cast of characters fill the stage and are lit dramatically from above. The figure of Samuel appears to tower over David and the low viewpoint adopted by Preti in this picture places us - as viewers - on the stone floor alongside other kneeling and seated figures, as if we too are witnesses of the young shepherd's anointment. This effect is further enhanced by the repoussoir figures in the lower corners, the muscular man lower left gesturing inwards and the young mother lower right, her hand placed protectively on her child's shoulder, turning her back to us and leading our gaze inwards to David.
In an almost identically sized canvas formerly with Matthiesen Gallery, London and now in a private collection (Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2008, lot 104), Preti represented another scene from the life of the young king in his David playing the harp before Saul (fig. 2). In spite of their corresponding dimensions and related subject matter, the two paintings do not appear to have been conceived as pendants. David playing the harp before Saul has been dated to around 1668 by Spike, who places the present work slightly later in the first half of the 1670s (op. cit.). Keith Sciberras, to whom we are grateful, believes the work could date either from the late 1660s or early 1670s (private communication, May 2025). Spike compares the Samuel anointing David with Preti’s Canonization of Saint Catherine, commissioned by a Maltese knight of the Piccolomini family for their chapel in the church of San Francesco, Siena, in 1672 (ibid., pp. 279-280, no. 216). The success of the Piccolomini Saint Catherine led almost immediately to another prestigious Sienese commission – also stylistically comparable to the present canvas – this time for the city’s Duomo. In 1675, Preti’s altarpiece Saint Bernardino of Siena preaching was delivered from Malta and installed in the second altar of the Duomo’s right-hand transept (ibid., pp. 278-279, no. 215). Spike also links Samuel anointing David with the artist’s Death of Sophonisba of a similar date, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon (ibid., pp. 165-166, no. 80), which likewise bears the influence of Veronese.
Though born in Calabria, Mattia Preti is traditionally associated with the city of Naples and is celebrated as one of the most spirited painters of the Italian baroque. In reality, he spent much of his career beyond Naples but proliferated the Neapolitan style of painting wherever he worked. Around 1630, at the age of seventeen, the artist moved to Rome where he shared a room with his brother Gregorio, who is thought to have been Preti’s principal teacher. Initially, in the 1630s and 1640s, like many painters of that period, his style was deeply influenced by that of Caravaggio. Yet, by the time he returned to Naples in 1653, his work had absorbed the influence of the Venetian masters and he intertwined the theatrical grandeur of painters such as Veronese and Tintoretto with the intense chiaroscuro and dramatic naturalism of his earlier Caravaggesque works. He became a Knight of Grace in the Order of Saint John and moved to Malta around 1660. There he painted a spectacular cycle of paintings for Valletta’s Saint John’s Co-Cathedral, depicting scenes from the life and martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist (ibid., pp. 312-326, no. 255). He painted prolifically, receiving prestigious commissions from across Europe and remained in Malta until his death in 1699.
As observed by James Clifton at the time of this painting’s exhibition in 1987 (op. cit.), Preti must have encountered Paolo Veronese’s treatment of this subject, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (fig. 1). Veronese’s composition is harmonious and distinctly classical in style, with figures set out across the picture plane as if part of a classical frieze, and the view is more expansive, incorporating ancient ruins and an Arcadian landscape beyond. Preti’s representation, by contrast, is characteristically dynamic and tense, with life-size figures filling the entire picture field and leaving little room for an architectural or landscape setting. The varied, lively cast of characters fill the stage and are lit dramatically from above. The figure of Samuel appears to tower over David and the low viewpoint adopted by Preti in this picture places us - as viewers - on the stone floor alongside other kneeling and seated figures, as if we too are witnesses of the young shepherd's anointment. This effect is further enhanced by the repoussoir figures in the lower corners, the muscular man lower left gesturing inwards and the young mother lower right, her hand placed protectively on her child's shoulder, turning her back to us and leading our gaze inwards to David.
In an almost identically sized canvas formerly with Matthiesen Gallery, London and now in a private collection (Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2008, lot 104), Preti represented another scene from the life of the young king in his David playing the harp before Saul (fig. 2). In spite of their corresponding dimensions and related subject matter, the two paintings do not appear to have been conceived as pendants. David playing the harp before Saul has been dated to around 1668 by Spike, who places the present work slightly later in the first half of the 1670s (op. cit.). Keith Sciberras, to whom we are grateful, believes the work could date either from the late 1660s or early 1670s (private communication, May 2025). Spike compares the Samuel anointing David with Preti’s Canonization of Saint Catherine, commissioned by a Maltese knight of the Piccolomini family for their chapel in the church of San Francesco, Siena, in 1672 (ibid., pp. 279-280, no. 216). The success of the Piccolomini Saint Catherine led almost immediately to another prestigious Sienese commission – also stylistically comparable to the present canvas – this time for the city’s Duomo. In 1675, Preti’s altarpiece Saint Bernardino of Siena preaching was delivered from Malta and installed in the second altar of the Duomo’s right-hand transept (ibid., pp. 278-279, no. 215). Spike also links Samuel anointing David with the artist’s Death of Sophonisba of a similar date, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon (ibid., pp. 165-166, no. 80), which likewise bears the influence of Veronese.
Though born in Calabria, Mattia Preti is traditionally associated with the city of Naples and is celebrated as one of the most spirited painters of the Italian baroque. In reality, he spent much of his career beyond Naples but proliferated the Neapolitan style of painting wherever he worked. Around 1630, at the age of seventeen, the artist moved to Rome where he shared a room with his brother Gregorio, who is thought to have been Preti’s principal teacher. Initially, in the 1630s and 1640s, like many painters of that period, his style was deeply influenced by that of Caravaggio. Yet, by the time he returned to Naples in 1653, his work had absorbed the influence of the Venetian masters and he intertwined the theatrical grandeur of painters such as Veronese and Tintoretto with the intense chiaroscuro and dramatic naturalism of his earlier Caravaggesque works. He became a Knight of Grace in the Order of Saint John and moved to Malta around 1660. There he painted a spectacular cycle of paintings for Valletta’s Saint John’s Co-Cathedral, depicting scenes from the life and martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist (ibid., pp. 312-326, no. 255). He painted prolifically, receiving prestigious commissions from across Europe and remained in Malta until his death in 1699.