David with the Head of Goliath

Around 1605 the young Guido Reni was in Rome, where Caravaggio had made severed heads and raking light the talk of the city. This David comes straight out of that world, the same violent Bible story lit by strong contrasts of light on bare skin. Notice the mood, though. The giant's head already lies at the boy's feet, and David has turned away from it, leaning on his sword in a red feathered cap and a fur-trimmed cloak, more thoughtful than triumphant. The killing is over before we arrive, and what remains is the cool, almost detached composure that became Reni's signature. He returned to the subject more than once, and another fine version hangs in the Louvre. This one stands over two metres tall in the Uffizi room built around Caravaggio's paintings.