Beersheba. 1832 Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799-1852)

Description of the painting "Bathsheba" by Karl Bryullov

Once, in King David’s lifetime, he was walking on the roof of his palace at sunset, and saw a young girl bathing at a spring, who appeared to him to be very beautiful. Feeling a passion for her, the king, who knew nothing in return, sent his own servants to her and they brought her to his palace.

Despite the fact that she was married, David took her as his wife, such was her beauty, and ordered her husband, a simple soldier, to be placed at the place of the most terrible battle, and to delay in helping him when he was trapped. Rejoicing that his passion was satisfied, rejoicing over his young wife, who proved to be meek and wise, he did not think that it was a sin and did not repent at all.

Then the prophet Nathan came to him, and told a parable, about a poor man and a rich man. "The rich man had many cattle, but the poor man had one sheep, which he bought, and cherished, and nurtured, and fed and fed with his children, and she was like a daughter to him. But one day a stranger came to the rich man’s house, and not wanting to waste his supplies on a guest, he ordered him to steal the poor man’s sheep and slaughter it.

Outraged, David cried out that such a man was guilty of death, and Nathan answered him, "That man is you. But you will not die; it is your son who will die by the stolen woman."

And the child died, and David repented and fasted and earned his forgiveness. Subsequently he had a son, the great King Solomon, and his mother was Bathsheba, taken against all law, but who became David’s faithful wife.

Bryullov depicts her at the moment of bathing. Bathsheba is stripped off her clothes, her hair is slightly damp and runs down her shoulders, she herself is adjusting her tiara as she puts her clothes on. Her gaze on the viewer is sad and as if knowing, as if she is already waiting for David’s servants, as if she is preparing not to scream when she is led to the man who has taken her from the battle as a thing.

Her skin, soft and white, contrasts with the dark hair and dark skin of the servant, who, feeling no distress, looks at her admiringly.