Saul Before Samuel and the Prophets

Maker Benjamin West (American, 1738 - 1820)

Collections

American Paintings Selections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1812

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 66 × 102 1/8 in. (167.6 × 259.4 cm.) frame: 75 × 111 in. (190.5 × 281.9 cm.)

SignedSignature; Date lower middle left: B. West/1812

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation

Status

On view

Label TextIn this scene from the Old Testament, Saul, the first king of Israel, has dispatched soldiers to kill his rival David, but God's spirit has overwhelmed them. Arriving on the scene, Saul is overcome with penitence, and Benjamin West depicts him having stripped off his clothes to show his humility before God as he prays. This story gave West the opportunity to reference classical Greek sculptures of the nude male body, considered in 18th- and 19th-century European culture to be the epitome of Western art.
In 1812, West exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy in London with the title Historical Landscape: Saul before Samuel and the Prophets, suggesting that he wanted viewers to concentrate as much on the scenery as the biblical drama. The composition of the painting, with its clearly defined foreground, middleground, and background, demonstrates the influence of the 17th-century French artists Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain.

Bibliography

British paintings at the Huntington

Object number83.8.52