FETTI, Domenico
(b. ca. 1589, Roma, d. 1623, Venezia)

The Young David Gathering Stones for his Slingshot

1617-19
Oil on canvas, 110 x 82 cm
Private collection

The young shepherd David, future King and author of the Psalms, gathers some stones before the momentous combat that will change his life and that of his fellow-Israelites. Although the Biblical narrative (I Samuel, chapter 18) does describe him preparing his slingshot before defeating the Philistine Goliath, the episode is extremely rarely represented in art, compared with the "Victorious David", a subject Fetti himself painted multiple times.