David doodt Goliath 1655 - 1699

Curator: This engraving, dating to between 1655 and 1699, is titled "David Doodt Goliath," or "David Slays Goliath." The print is by Jean Louis Roullet and resides here at the Rijksmuseum. What’s your first take on it? Editor: Violence rendered in swirls! Goliath is utterly outmatched, sprawled amidst those flamboyant baroque flourishes. The contrast between the brutality of the act and the decorative frame is quite striking, even a little funny, honestly. Curator: It speaks to the era, doesn't it? Baroque art often intertwined religious narrative with theatricality. David's victory was not just a personal triumph but also a moment of divine intervention against oppression, rendered here as spectacle. These prints had a social role—they were disseminated to share narratives with strong ideological import. Editor: Ideological, yes, but also aesthetic! All of those elegant vegetal forms swirling around such a moment of blunt action—it reminds me a bit of when things blow up and spread really far, except here its ornament. As a print, it probably travelled widely. Curator: Indeed, that distribution helped shape a broader understanding and the values embedded in this story: piety, bravery, and righteous rule, all carefully articulated through visual culture. It makes you wonder how many saw it in churches or family homes… Editor: And the act of dissemination transformed a singular violent act into widespread symbolic knowledge. Like seeing a single ant become a trail that leads straight to a colony of its kind. One image leads to more. Makes you see how propaganda worked back then and how art can do so many things besides being just a picture. Curator: Precisely! It shows the intricate relationship between art, faith, and political power in shaping historical narratives, one we still contend with today. I always walk away from these prints reminded about what art tells us about what society cares about at different moments. Editor: Me too! It is all like something coming out from an interesting dream. These prints are really windows back in time, or, in this case, to a window that multiplies to a series of looking holes throughout the time. A great conversation starter for a simple afternoon at the museum!