JOSEPH PARROCEL | The Triumph of David

Jean-Baptiste Descamps (1714-1791) ;
Collection Hocédé (mort en ou avant 1859), Rouen (L.2006) ; 
Galerie Paul Prouté, Paris, 1985, n°29 : « comme Nicolas Bertin » ; 
Acquis de cette galerie.

Rennes, 2012, n°48 (notice par Jérôme Delaplanche) ;
Sceaux, 2013 (sans catalogue)

Laid down on an old mount which has in subsequently been hinged to a modern mount. There is evidence of some light foxing throughout the sheet and some minor discoloration to the paper itself. The pen and ink media remains fresh and vibrant throughout, with the image strong. Sold unframed.
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The French Baroque painter and draughtsman, Joseph Parrocel, is perhaps best remembered today for his vivid, figure-laden depictions of battles, both Ancient and modern.  His representations of subjects drawn from the Old Testament are, however, considerably scarcer within his graphic oeuvre, making the present sheet depicting the Triumph of David a great rarity. The subject depicted in this drawing is taken from the First Book of Samuel (Chapter 18: verses 6-9) where we read how, following his defeat of Goliath, David returns from the war, to great fanfare, brandishing the head of his vanquished foe.  A scene of great jubilation unfurls around him, as women from all the towns of Israel welcome the returning army at the gates of the city, singing and dancing with joyful songs, and playing timbrels and lyres.  Yet although the scene is fundamentally one of joy and celebration, Parrocel ingeniously manages to imbue the figure of King Saul, who can be seen directly behind David, with all of the visual inconspicuousness that the King must have feared, following David’s great military feat. The polarized manner in which the two figures are presented within Parrocel’s composition, with David in the centre, bathed in light and glory, and Saul barely visible in the shadows directly behind him, illustrates the artist’s awareness of how important the portrayal of the dynamic between these two characters was to his depiction of the subject.

Though representations by Parrocel of subjects drawn from the Old Testament are certainly rare, they are by no means unknown, another fine example being his Judith and Holofernes, formerly in the distinguished collections of Pierre Crozat and Dezallier d’Argenville, and now in the Louvre.¹ Also, it is interesting to note that despite the rarity of these works, a second, smaller drawing by the artist depicting the Triumph of David was on the Parisian art market in 1998.²  Though there are fundamental differences between the two sheets in both composition and media – such as David appearing on foot rather than horseback, and a noticeable lack of white heightening – there are also some fascinating comparisons to be drawn, in particular the similarities between two of the female dancers on the right side of both compositions, as well as the liberal and highly distinctive use of wash throughout both drawings.

A dating of circa 1700 was proposed for the Adrien drawing in the 2012 Rennes exhibition catalogue,³ and though a connection between this sheet and a painted composition has thus far been unforthcoming, this relatively late drawing does perfectly encapsulate Parrocel’s two great artistic fascinations: for the military, here depicted in all of its might on the left side of the composition, and for beauty and femininity, portrayed on the right, through the exquisitely drawn dancing women.

^1. Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. 32248
^2. Sale, Paris, Piasa, 14 December 1998, lot 94
^3. Exhib. cat., Rennes, Op. cit., p. 137