David Playing the Harp
c. 1585-1600
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 35.1 × 44.7 cm (13 7/8 × 17 5/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
268666
Art Historical Context
Behold *David Playing the Harp*, a captivating engraving by Flemish artist Jan Sadeler I, created around 1585–1600. This work depicts the biblical King David, a masterful musician whose harp-playing is celebrated in scripture for soothing King Saul's tormented spirit. Sadeler, a prominent member of the influential Sadeler family of engravers based in Antwerp, captures David in a moment of serene devotion, surrounded by attentive figures, evoking the Renaissance fascination with classical and biblical narratives. Rendered on luxurious ivory laid paper—a fine, early European support prized for ...
About the Artist
Jan Sadeler, I · 1550–1600
Jan Sadeler I (1550–1600) was born in Brussels and became the most prominent member of the largest and most successful dynasty of Flemish printmakers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Sadeler family — which included Jan's brothers Aegidius and Raphael — produced an extraordinary volume of engravings that circulated across Catholic Europe, disseminating images of religious subjects, p...