Tag: sin

Art on the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13B

You are that man!

Nathan Rebukes David for His Adultery, Published in 1712,
Copper Engraving, Caspar Luiken (1672-1708)

Reading: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a

Hovak Najarian

After Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, was sent into battle to be killed, King David “brought his widow, [Bathsheba] to his house and she became his wife, and bore him a son.”  This displeased the Lord and the Prophet Nathan was sent to visit David.

Upon his arrival at David’s palace, Nathan set up his rebuke with a story about two men: one very rich and the other very poor.  The poor man had only a ewe  he raised from the time it was a small lamb.  Like pets that become part of a family, his ewe was dear to him and loved by his children.  Nathan noted, “It was like daughter to him.”  The rich man lacked nothing and had large flocks of sheep and herds.  When he was visited by a traveler, he did not want to give up a single sheep from his own flocks so he took the lone sheep of the poor man to provide dinner for his visitor.  The wealthy man used his position to take advantage of the poor one.

When David heard this story he was furious.  He said “As the Lord lives the man who has done this deserves to die …because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”  Nathan said to David “You are that man.”  Nathan reminded David that he had “murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stole his wife.  When faced with the truth, David was remorseful and confessed “I have sinned against the Lord.”  He listened as Nathan told him what the sad consequences of his actions would be.

In Caspar’s engraving, David is crownless and his head is downcast.  He is standing slump-shouldered as Nathan points his finger at him in a scene reminiscent of a Greek tragedy.

Though Caspar Luiken lived during the early Baroque period, the architectural setting of this engraving gives it a classical quality.  Ornate aspects of the print are limited to primarily the drapery, robes, carpet and the two covered storage vessels.  In keeping with what was standard practice for an artist of this era, a strong light source defines the folds of the robes and fills the space with high contrasts.  Caspar also demonstrates his kill in creating an illusion of pictorial depth.  Through an accurate use of linear perspective, our attention is taken back to a brightly lit space and then a window takes us back even farther into a distant landscape.

At the time Caspar Luiken was born, Amsterdam was still aglow from its golden age of art and commerce.  During those years it was the wealthiest city in Europe and an important center for the arts.   His father, Jan Luiken, was a very successful illustrator and publisher.  This was a time before photographs were known; a time when highly skilled engravers such as Jan and his son Caspar filled a need for images that were used in publications.  Caspar learned engraving from his father and it was hoped he would carry on the family business but after working with him initially, he went to Germany to be on his own.  Six years later he returned to help support his father financially but then he died at the age of thirty-six.  A book of Caspar’s engravings of Old Testament events, including Nathan Rebukes David for his Adultery, was published posthumously.

Hovak Najarian © 2012, revised 2024

Art note

A brief description of the engraving process is given in the note following the Art Commentary: “David Playing the Harp before Saul | Art for B Proper 7.”

Art on the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12B

It happened, late one afternoon when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.

Bathsheba at Her Bath, oil on canvas, 1636-37, Artemisia Gentileschi, 1593-1656

Reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-15

Commentary by Hovak Najarian
 

 Bathsheba at Her Bath is one of several versions of this subject painted by Artemisia Gentileschi.  In each of them the focus is primarily on Bathsheba with King David observing her from a distance.  

In this scene, Bathsheba is relaxed and seems to be interested only in her grooming.   She, and the two women assisting her in the foreground, are occupied with details associated with her bath and there is no indication they are aware of being watched by King David.

While Bathsheba was at home in Jerusalem, her husband, Uriah, was serving in King David’s army in a war with the Ammonites.  David remained in Jerusalem during this war and everyday activities on the home front continued.  On the day Bathsheba was bathing she was in an open-air walled area where she would not be noticed by people at street level but David was at a higher vantage point and could see her.

In Artemisia’s painting, Bathsheba’s bath is almost complete.  She is combing her long hair while an attendant is wiping her legs.  Another attendant is braiding a portion of her hair and in the background at the upper left, King David is looking at her from a balcony of his Venetian styled palace (He is being shielded from the sun by an attendant with a parasol).  Though David is a minor figure in this composition, he is a major player in the events that followed.

Detail (enlarged), David observing Bathsheba.

 David was struck by Bathsheba’s beauty and desired to be with her.  He sent word for her to come to his palace and this resulted in an inappropriate relationship.  Bathsheba became pregnant.  In order for David to make it seem like he was not the father of the expected child, Uriah was called back from his military duties to spend time with his wife.  Uriah, a highly disciplined military man, however, did not go to his wife.   This did not turn out as David hoped so Uriah was sent back to the battlefield and placed in the thick of action where he would be killed.  After Uriah’s death, David married Bathsheba but the child that was conceived, died. 


In early paintings of Bathsheba, she was portrayed as an innocent victim of King David.   The biblical account indicates David, in his position of power, took advantage of her.  By the seventeenth century, however, it was suggested Bathsheba was flattered by the attention she received and might have been a willing participant … even a temptress.  This second interpretation seems to have grown out of fantasy; there is no factual information to support it. 


After the concept of art and artist was established in the fifteenth century, the making of art became a trade.  Artists established workshops and sought commissions from wealthy patrons and the Church.  In these artist’s workshops the men in a family often worked alongside their father, whereas young women were expected to pursue domestic skills.  Unlike traditional roles of women in her time, however, Artemisia apprenticed in the workshop of her well-known father, Orazio, and acquired the skills and insights that enabled her to establish a career in a field dominated by men.  In subject matter, she often turned to events in the Bible in which women played important roles or performed heroic deeds.

Hovak Najarian © 2024

Art note

When Artemisia was young, her mother died and she, along with her brothers, joined her father in his art workshop.  She was more serious about art than her brothers and wanted to learn all she could from her father, Orazio.  
Her father, like many artists who settled in Rome at that time, was influenced by Caravaggio and Artemisia also took an early interest in Caravaggio’s work.  She did not limit herself to portraits and flowers (subjects expected of women who painted) but often took on subjects with emotional content.   Although she was very gifted and recognized as such among other artists of her time, women artists tended to be overlooked by art historians and it was not until around mid-twentieth century that she began to be recognized for her achievements.

More: Artemisia Gentileschi (Wikipedia)

Image

Wikimedia Commons