David and Bathsheba
Michele Rocca (? Parma ca. 1670 - ca. 1751)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1720 - circa 1730
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
67 x 53 cm
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Basildon Park, Berkshire
NT 267429
Summary
Oil on canvas, David and Bathsheba, Michele Rocca (Parma c.1666 - Venice after 1751), 18th century. The painting illustrates a passage from the second Book of Samuel in which David, King of Israel, covetously spies on Bathsheba from the balcony of his palace. Nude save for rich blue drapery, here Bathsheba is attended by two women, one washing her feet, the other about to adorn her mistress with a string of pearls. According to biblical narrative Bathsheba's beauty compelled David to adultery and to order the murder of Bathsheba's husband Uriah the Hittite. Within a painted oval. Professor Giancarlo Sestieri records three other versions of the subject. At the time of cataloguing two versions were in Italian private collections - one of these is compositionally similar to the Basildon picture - with a third, dated 1729, in the collection of the Schloss Wilhelmshohe Kassel, Germany (Sestieri 2004, nos. 48 A,B,C). Purchased by Lord Iliffe from Colnaghi, London, on 5 November 1962 for £750 (see COL2-2-33, p. 169; the business records of P&D Colnaghi Ltd, London, held at Waddesdon Manor).
Provenance
Mario Cellini [?Rome, Italy]; bought by Colnaghi, London, 28 June, 1962; Langton Iliffe, Basildon Park, 5 November, 1962; Christies, 11 July 2008, lot 195; private collection, Jersey; purchased by the National Trust for Basildon Park, 5 March 2023.
Makers and roles
Michele Rocca (? Parma ca. 1670 - ca. 1751), artist
References
Sestieri 2004: Giancarlo Sestieri, Michele Rocca e la pittura rococò a Roma, Rome 2004