Artwork
Bathseba at her bath receives the message of David
Bathseba at her bath receives the message of David is an unspecified painting by the Rococo painting artist Jacopo Amigoni. It dates from 1742 and is held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Berlin.
About this work
Overview
Jacopo Amigoni’s 1742 canvas portrays the biblical Bathsheba at the moment she receives King David’s summons while she bathes. Set in an open, leafy garden, the composition balances the figure’s modesty with a subtle narrative tension, inviting viewers into a quiet, intimate encounter between the central woman and her messenger.
Subject & Meaning
The work illustrates the moment from 2 Samuel when David, from his palace roof, sends a servant to invite Bathsheba to join him. Amigoni emphasizes the vulnerability of Bathsheba, seated in a tub and partially veiled, while the messenger’s attentive posture underscores the impending moral dilemma that the story conveys.
Technique & Style
Executed in the Rococo idiom, the painting employs a light palette of pastel hues and delicate brushwork. The figures are rendered with soft modeling, and the surrounding foliage is rendered in loose, almost ornamental strokes, creating a sense of airy elegance typical of Amigoni’s late‑Baroque sensibility.
History & Provenance
Created during Amigoni’s itinerant period after his Venetian training, the canvas entered the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, where it remains part of the museum’s holdings of 18th‑century European painting. Its acquisition reflects the German interest in Italian Rococo works during the 19th century.
Context
The painting aligns with a broader 18th‑century fascination with biblical subjects rendered in a secular, decorative manner. Amigoni, who worked for courts across Europe, often blended religious narrative with the intimate, pastoral settings favored by aristocratic patrons, situating the biblical tale within a contemporary, genteel atmosphere.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jacopo Amigoni (born Giacomo Amiconi; 1682 – September 1752), was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period, who began his career in Venice, but traveled and was prolific throughout Europe, where his sumptuous portraits were…
