{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O347710"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O347710/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011FB2653/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011FB2653/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011FB2653","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GX9435","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY0112","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY0111","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY0110","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O347710/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O347710","accessionNumber":"A.23:1-1959","objectType":"Relief","titles":[{"title":"David Dancing before the Arc","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This relief depicts the Old Testament story in which David and thirty thousand Israelites process the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem with David dancing before the ark in celebration (2 Samuel 6:14). In typical Baroque style, the scene is presented with vibrant energy. The rendering of limbs and bodies in various stages of action enhance the sense of movement and invite the viewer's eye to explore across the surface.\n\nThe full range of relief has been used, with the extremely high relief creating deep recesses and sharp contrasts of light and dark for dramatic effect, characteristic of the Baroque. David and the three men following him frame and thereby accentuate the Ark above, with the low relief of the Ark itself creating the sense that it is emerging from the space behind. This energy disrupts the transportation of the Ark, in a scene that resembles classical bacchanals, marrying chaos with joviality, and with a similar emphasis on music and dance.  The two men holding the animals in the foreground represent different stages of the male form, from a bent to a standing position. This technique, generally associated with the Renaissance, is also found in classical sculpture, to signal the skill of the artist in rendering variety in human form.\n\nVarious features suggest that this composition was designed to be cast in metal rather than carved in marble. These include the protruding limbs of the figures that would have been especially vulnerable in marble - as indicated by the damage sustained by the brittle terracotta. Similarly, the sketchy low-relief incisions of the background figures, foliage and landscape would have translated well into the wax and ultimately to the finished cast metal, in which they would have more easily reflected light, and thus perhaps given the impression of greater depth.","physicalDescription":"The relief shows David in the right centre foreground in right profile, with head upturned and right leg raised. To his right are a gesticulating female figure and two youths blowing trumpets. Behind David is a kneeling figure turned to the right in the act of sacrificing a ram which lies prostate on the ground. At the left is a youth turned to the left and grasping the head of a calf. Behind, the ark, that bears two cherubim, is carried by three priests wearing distinctive headgear, accompanied by two further youths, and a dancing figure playing the tambourine. Another face, in very low relief, appears in the background by the ark.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cafà, Melchiorre","id":"A37786"},"association":{"text":"style of","id":"x44460"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"terracotta","id":"AAT10669"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Terracotta","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Reliefs","id":"THES49035"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2011FB2653","2014GX9435","2018KY0112","2018KY0111","2018KY0110"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"7","id":"THES263054"},"free":"","case":"CA21","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"TCRPS (VA)","id":"THES49504"},"free":"","case":"C1","shelf":"1","box":"2"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Model","id":""}],[{"text":"Relief","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragments","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1660 - ca. 1665","earliest":"1655-01-01","latest":"1669-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with funds from the Horn Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"62","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/12/2012","earliest":"2012-12-13","latest":"2012-12-13"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"84","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/12/2012","earliest":"2012-12-13","latest":"2012-12-13"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"16","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"13/12/2012","earliest":"2012-12-13","latest":"2012-12-13"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"34.9","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"28/07/2015","earliest":"2015-07-28","latest":"2015-07-28"},"part":"","note":"Weighed for Europe installation."}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured by SCP (LS) and FTF (DH) on 13 December 2012 for 1600-1800 Project.\n","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This sketch-model was probably created in connection with a relief to be cast in metal rather than for a marble (Pope-Hennessy 1964, p.613). Some of the figures have been compared to works by Alessandro Algardi (1602-1654) of about 1650, such as <u>Pope Liberius baptising the Neophytes</u>\n(1647-49) in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Similarly, the youth in right profile at the left of the scene is close to a head in an altarpiece relief showing <u>The Meeting of St Leo the Great and Attila</u> of 1646 by Algardi in St Peter's basilica in Rome. Despite these affinities, this relief was convincingly assessed by Jennifer Montagu to be later in date and close in style to the Maltese sculptor Melchiorre Cafà (1638-1667), who had a short, but important career in Rome (Montagu 1985, p.463).\n\nPurchased in Rome (Sestieri, £810), in 1959.","historicalContext":"This is a sketch-model, and was designed for reproduction in metal rather than in marble. Some of the figures can be compared with works by Algardi (1602-1654) of about 1650. However, the relief appears to be later in date and closer in style to the Maltese sculptor, Melchiorre Cafà (1638-1667) who had a short, but important career in Rome.","briefDescription":"Relief, terracotta, David Dancing before the Ark, in the style of Melchiorre Cafà, Rome, ca. 1660-1665","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ravalli, Minna Heimbürger. <u>Alessandro Algardi, Scultore</u>, Rome, 1973, pp. 179-180 and fig. 24"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pope-Hennessy, John, assisted by Ronald Lightbown. <u>Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume II: Text. Sixteenth to Twentieth Century</u>. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, pp. 612-13, cat. no. 644"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albertt Museum. <u>Art Bulletin</u>. Vol. L, 1968, p. 104"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Montagu, Jennifer. <u>Alessandro Algardi</u>. New Haven and London, 1985, cat. no. R.4, Vol II, p. 463"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"David","id":"N582"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"ark","id":"x43078"},{"text":"female figure","id":"x43298"},{"text":"youth","id":"AAT25944"},{"text":"trumpet","id":"AAT42339"},{"text":"ram","id":"AAT232835"},{"text":"putto","id":"AAT250465"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"DAVID DANCING BEFORE THE ARK\r\nItalian (Rome); about 1660-65\r\nTerracotta\r\nPurchased by the Horn Bequest\r\n\r\nThe relief is a sketch model probably designed for reproduction in metal rather than in marble. The design is close in style to works by the Maltese sculptor, Melchiorre Caffà (1638-67) who had a short but important career in Rome.\r\n","date":{"text":"1993 - 2011","earliest":"1993-01-01","latest":"2011-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["A.23:1-1959","A.23:2-1959"],"accessionNumberNum":"23","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1959,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Model","Fragments"],"assets":["2019LM9273","2019LN7401","2019LU6563","2019LW8242"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}