David's Dying Charge to Solomon

License image

Ferdinand Bol , Dutch, 1616-1680

Title

Date1643

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

171 x 230 cm

Signedlower right: f. bol. fecit 1643.

Credit LinePresented, 3rd Earl of Saint Germans, 1854

Object numberNGI.47

DescriptionThis large painting represents David, old and dying, in his bed. Holding his scepter in his left hand, it is the moment he names his son Solomon King of Israel. He did so in accordance with a promise he made to his lover Bathsheba, who watches the two men from the side. Both David and Solomon were renowned for their wisdom and seen as Old Testament prototypes of Christ, despite the illicit union that had brought about Solomon’s birth.
Born in Dordrecht, Bol moved to Amsterdam in 1637, where he trained with Rembrandt. Having set up his own studio in the early 1640s, Bol continued to work in the style of his teacher, as confirmed by David’s Dying Charge to Solomon. He based the composition of the painting, and its large bed, on Rembrandt’s famous Danae, now in the Hermitage, St Petersburg. Bol’s painting was the first Dutch work of art acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland, having been deposited by the Lord Lieutenant with the Irish Institution, which had been established in 1853 to raise funds and donations of pictures for a future National Gallery.

March 2016
ProvenanceProbably anonymous sale, London (Longford), 8 March 1776, no. 68, as Rembrandt, sold for 33 Guinea; at the Vice-Regal Lodge, Dublin by 1814; until 1854, when deposited with the Irish Istitution for the National Gallery of Ireland by the the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of St. Germans Exhibition HistoryRoyal Irish Institute, Dublin, 1814

Royal Irish Institute, Dublin, 1831

Royal Irish Institute, Dublin, 1854

Rembrandt, his Teachers and his Pupils, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 15 April - 4 June 1992; Memorial Museum of Art, Kawamura, 13 June - 2 August 1992; Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, 7 August - 20 September 1992

Label TextThis painting represents the moment when David, old and dying, names his son Solomon King of Israel in accordance with a promise he made to his lover Bathsheba, who watches the two men from the side. Bol trained with Rembrandt in Amsterdam during the late 1630s-early 1640s and continued to work in the style of his teacher for several years. He based the composition of this painting on Rembrandt’s famous Danaë, now in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg. Bol’s painting was the first Dutch work of art acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland.