Goliath (On the Run)

An adaptation of Caravaggio’s David and Goliath (1599).

The original depicts David kneeling on the back of Goliath as he cuts the giant’s head from its corpse. It is believed that Goliath serves as a self portrait of the artist, a detail that is carried over to this rendition. The face of this “David” is obscured, her hair blocking her face and tangling with the locks of the beheaded giant. The hidden identity of this woman is reflected in the title, which only names the fallen monster. However, when viewed in the context of my other work, the tattoo on the woman’s shoulder gives the painting away as a double self portrait. 

Using tenebrism for the first time, this painting developed relatively quickly. Phthalo blue and Naples yellow created a deep, mossy green that served as the first layer, followed by a quick line sketch. The head of Goliath was rendered first, to help solidify the scale of the figure kneeling.