David Triumphant over Goliath (late 1400s - early 1500s): Art, History and Details

David Triumphant over Goliath (late 1400s - early 1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Moderno (Italian, 1467–1528).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A triumphant David, clad only in his helmet, stands next to the body of his opponent, the Philistine giant Goliath. David holds the sling that incapacitated the giant, allowing him to seize Goliath's sword and sever his head. On the right, a figure, possibly David's friend Jonathan, holds Goliath's body, while his severed head rests at David's feet. As his pseudonym may indicate, Moderno operated at the forefront of the classical revival in the early 1500s. David's body especially owes much to the classical tradition, with heroic frontal nudity that recalls ancient sculptures of ideal youths. The distinct lack of ornament, and the bold use of empty space characterize Moderno's style, where, instead of simply recreating classical prototypes, he reinterpreted and shifted them to produce dramatic compositions.

Object facts

• Title: David Triumphant over Goliath
• Date: late 1400s - early 1500s
• Creator attribution: Moderno (Italian, 1467–1528)
• Culture: Italy, late 15th-early 16th Century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 7 x 5.8 cm (2 3/4 x 2 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1992.131

Collection credit

Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1992.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (February 1993): 38–79.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.