The Triumph of David

David has already won. The giant's head lies on a heap of armour at his feet, his sword is down, and he is looking at the head while a winged Victory leans in over his shoulder with a laurel wreath. Poussin painted this in Rome around 1630, and the Victory is not his invention. She comes from an ancient carved relief he knew through the drawings gathered by Cassiano dal Pozzo, a Roman scholar who had thousands of Roman remains copied onto paper so they could be studied. Three small boys complete the scene. One holds up a gold crown, one plays a harp that people then believed could sound from the wind alone, and the third sits beside him and seems to be crying.