David with the Head of Goliath
Medium
Black chalk on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
11.4 × 7.3 cm (4 1/2 × 2 7/8 in.)
Classification
chalk
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
85419
Art Historical Context
Giuseppe Cesari, better known as Cavaliere d’Arpino, created this intimate black-chalk drawing around 1591–93. Working in Rome at the close of the sixteenth century, Cesari bridged late Mannerism and the emerging Baroque style, earning papal commissions and the knighthood that gave him his nickname. The sheet’s modest size—just 11.4 by 7.3 centimeters—suggests it may have served as a quick compositional study or a record of a detail for a larger painting of the biblical hero David. The subject, David with the head of Goliath, was a favorite theme for artists of the period, symbolizing courage...