David at the Cave of Adullam

Dr. Paul Mersch, Paris (d. 1909; ?sold to Satinover); [Satinover Galleries, New York]; M. de Clairefontaine, Paris (in 1912); L. C. Levison, New York (until 1921; sold to The Met)

B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "A Painting Attributed to Claude Lorraine." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 17 (June 1922), pp. 127–30, ill., analyzes the differences between this painting and the one in the National Gallery, London; concludes that the MMA work may be a repetition by Claude of the London picture, and notes that it should be dated with his late works.

Satinover Galleries. Letter to Bryson Burroughs. March 9, 1922, details the provenance; notes that Mr. De Clairefontaine offered this painting together with the "Rape of Europa" to the Louvre in 1912, but that the offer was declined.

R. Wentworth. "Les musées aux États-Unis." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 43 (January 1923), p. 67, ill., agrees that this is a version by Claude of the painting in London and that it is a late work by the artist.

B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "The Ford: A Painting by Claude Lorrain." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 23 (December 1928), p. 306, considers it to be a free copy, probably by a French artist of the late eighteenth century.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 19.

Charles Sterling. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings. Vol. 1, XV–XVIII Centuries. Cambridge, Mass., 1955, pp. 85–86, ill., calls this a fine eighteenth-century copy of the painting in London, but notes that the figures are smaller and more numerous, and that the color has been altered to suit eighteenth-century tastes.

Martin Davies. National Gallery Catalogues: French School. 2nd ed. revised. London, 1957, p. 35, under no. 6, calls it a "slightly varied" copy of the London painting.

Marcel Röthlisberger. Claude Lorrain: The Paintings. New Haven, 1961, vol. 1, p. 345, under LV 145, calls it a good copy of the London Claude; posits that it was painted in Rome about 1800; comments on the smaller size of the figures and the brighter, yellowish-green colors.

Doretta Cecchi in L'opera completa di Claude Lorrain. Milan, 1975, p. 114, under no. 215.

Pierre Rosenberg. France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-century French Paintings in American Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1982, p. 360, no. 8, ill. [French ed., "La peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines", Paris], as "Paysage avec David et les trois héros"; calls it a copy.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 136, ill.

This picture is a copy after the painting by Claude Lorrain in the National Gallery, London, dated 1658 (NG6).

The subject is based on a passage in the Second Book of Samuel (23:13–17). David, after a great victory against the Philistines, seeks refuge in the cave of Adullam. He sighs for a drink of water at the well of Bethlehem (the garden of the enemy). In this picture, his three devoted captains, who had braved the Philistine lines to fetch the water in a helmet, are shown standing before him. David refuses to drink the water and, instead, offers it in gratitude to the Lord.