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David Playing the Harp before Saul
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The soothing effect of David’s music upon the melancholic King Saul, as relayed in the Old Testament and depicted here by Frans Floris, is the earliest visual evidence of the therapeutic use of music. Floris’s woodcut would have had contemporary relevance in its affirmation of Martin Luther’s belief that music-a divine power that creates order—had been made by God to combat the destructive power of evil.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineDavid Playing the Harp before Saul, 1555. After Frans Floris (Netherlandish, 1519–1570). Chiaroscuro woodcut; sheet: 33.4 x 47.9 cm (13 1/8 x 18 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1997.189
