Bathsheba at the Bath
| Bathsheba at the Bath | |
|---|---|
| Artist | David Wilkie |
| Year | 1817 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, history painting |
| Dimensions | 40.3 cm × 53.2 cm (15.9 in × 20.9 in) |
| Location | Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
Bathsheba at the Bath is an 1817 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie.[1] It depicts the biblical scene of Bathsheba being spied on by the Israeli king David while bathing, entrancing him. Wilkie was influenced by the style of Rembrandt for this painting.[2] The subject had been a popular one since the Renaissance era, second only to David's battle against Goliath in depictions of the monarch.[3] It was an unusual subject matter for Wilkie nonetheless, who was best known at this time for small genre paintings of everyday life.[4]
Wilkie exhibited the painting at the British Institution in 1818 where it was criticised by the press including the Radical newspaper The Examiner.[5] Today it is in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, having been acquired in 1932.[6]
References
- ^ Wright, Gordon, & Smith p.824
- ^ Turner p.283
- ^ Jones, Murray & Murray p.144-45
- ^ "Bathsheba at the Bath".
- ^ Tromans p.10 & 60
- ^ "Bathsheba at the Bath".
Bibliography
- Jones, Tom Devonshire, Murray, Linda & Murray, Peter. The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture. OUP Oxford, 2013.
- Turner, Nicholas. European Drawings 4: Catalogue of the Collections. Getty Publications, 2001.
- Tromans, Nicholas. David Wilkie: The People's Painter. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
- Wright, Christopher, Gordon, Catherine May & Smith, Mary Peskett. British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections: An Index of British and Irish Oil Paintings by Artists Born Before 1870 in Public and Institutional Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland.