King David
Ca. 1650. Oil on canvas.Not on display
De Ríes was Zurbarán’s assistant in the late 1630s and continued to follow his master’s style as an independent painter. One of his finest works from the latter period is this King David. From Zurbarán, Ríes derived the practice of locating the biblical characters in the foreground against a dark background and a preference for a precise, painstaking description of the forms and textures. The facial types are also similar. The painting is in extremely good condition, making it possible to appreciate the level of quality achieved by the best artists of Zurbarán’s circle.
