"King David"

Girolamo da Santacroce (1490-1556)   was a 16th-century Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Venice and the Venetian mainland.  He became in Venice a pupil of the painter Gentile Bellini. He was a prolific artist and many of his works are signed and dated. His work shows the influence of Titian and Palma Vecchio.

Girolamo da Santacroce continued in the tradition of Bellini, particularly in religious-themed compositions. Here he portrays the biblical David, king of the Israelites and an ancestor of Christ, dressed in richly brocaded robes of silk and velvet and wearing a turban with a crown. The psaltery on which David plays, a stringed instrument resembling a zither, refers to his presumed authorship of the Psalms of the Old Testament. Behind the imposing figure stretches a vast landscape of mountains and winding roads. Influenced by the late Gothic miniaturist tradition, Girolamo paid close attention to myriad details in this large composition but nevertheless managed to harmonize them through a characteristically Venetian handling of light and color—a harmony that echoes the musical subject of the painting.