Domenico Fetti

Domenico Fetti was born around 1588/89 in Rome, where he was influenced by Caravaggio's expressive chiaroscuro paintings. The artist was employed as a court painter to Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga when he became the Duke of Mantua in 1613. Here Fetti got the opportunity to study the works of Peter Paul Rubens, Giulio Romano and the Venetian painters Titian and Tintoretto. Their rich colors and flowing brushwork strongly influence his painting. In 1622 Fetti moved to Venice where he died a year later.
During his time as court painter in Mantua Fetti created the dramatic composition, as the current cataloguenumber is a good copy of. The motif is based on the story in the Old Testament of the shepherd boy David's victory over the giant Goliath, a popular theme already in Caravaggios paintings. With a stone from his sling, David killed the Philistine warrior and beheaded him with his own sword. Fetti depicts the end of the story, with a triumphant David holding Goliath's huge head in one hand and in the other the giant's mighty sword. In the background is the defeated enemy's headless body lying on the battlefield.

Compare painting in the collection of the Nationalmuseum in Sweden, no NM 7280.