David with the Head of Goliath before Saul

Rembrandt was about 21 when he painted this, still working in his home town of Leiden years before the Amsterdam success that made him famous. It is tiny, barely 40 centimetres across, painted on an oak plank, and it may have been a trial run for a larger picture that was never traced. The young David kneels and holds up the severed head of Goliath, the giant he has just killed, while King Saul studies it in his ornate armour and plumed helmet. Even in this early work you can see what would occupy Rembrandt for life, the way a single source of light catches metal, cloth and a startled face and lets everything else fall into shadow.