Interpretations of the Old Testament Plot ‘David's Victory over the Goliath‘ in Italian Decorative Painting of XVth Century

Abstract

The essay deals to the interpretations of Old Testament plot “the young David's victory over Goliath” (First Book of Kingdoms) in Italian domestic paintings of XVth century. The author focuses on narratives compositions, made by Pezellino, Giovanni di Ser Giovanni (Scheggia) and Andrea del Castano. The pictorial images are considered in the context of cultural tendencies and ideals of the Renaissance, as well as in the context of a parallel developing tradition of representing the biblical hero in the statuary plastic. The article pays attention to the sources of iconography in decorative paintings — medieval book miniatures, works of decorative art of Byzantium, as well as textual sources, that determined semantic reading of the image (in particular, the Psalter). In decorative paintings the iconographic types, established in miniature, were adapted to the format of a larger multi-figure painting.