The Battle of David and Goliath

Collection Areas: European Art, Medieval
Subject Areas: English Language Arts, Visual Arts, World History
Grades: Middle School, High School
Topic/Theme: Power and Leadership, Identity, Stories in Art

Goals

Students will be able to:

• identify strategies artists use to illustrate narratives; and
• use composition and details to convey a story through images.

National Learning Standards

English Language Arts

NL-ENG.K-12.3 Evaluation Strategies

Visual Arts

NA-VA.K-12.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes

NA-VA.K-12.2 Using Knowledge of Structures and Functions

NA-VA.K-12.3 Choosing and Evaluating a Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas

NA-VA.K-12.4 Understanding the Visual Arts in Relation to History and Cultures

World History

NSS-WH.5-12.4 Era 4: Expanding Zones of Exchange and Encounter, 300–1000 c.e.

Common Core State Standards

English Language Arts

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Questions for Viewing

• What do you notice about the material used to create this object? Why do you think the artist selected it?
• Who might have owned an object like this? What might it have been used for?
• What appears to be happening in the central scene?
• Who would you identify as the main characters? Why?
• What type of clothing and accessories are these figures wearing? What might this indicate?
• What do you notice about the organization of the image?
• What appears to be happening in the scene at the top and bottom? How do the scenes relate to one another?
• What strategies has the artist used to help us identify the characters in the top section as David and Goliath?
• What do you notice about the gestures and facial expressions of these figures? What might this tell us?
• How does the artist indicate that time is passing in the narrative?

Activity

Activity Setting: Classroom
Materials: Drawing paper, pens, pencils, markers, and paint
Subject Areas: English Language Arts, Visual Arts
Duration: 60 minutes

Choose a well-known secular or religious narrative from books or television and consider the key figures and events. Draw, paint, or use a computer to create a poster, without words, that reflects the story. Utilize pose and accessories to convey information about each figure and use the David Plates as a source of inspiration for organizing the various scenes into a unified composition. Share your completed work to see how others interpret the image.

Resources

De Capoa, Chiara. Old Testament Figures in Art. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003.

Morales, Esther M., Michael B. Norris, Alice W. Schwarz, and Edith W. Watts. A Masterwork of Byzantine Art: The David Plates—The Story of David and Goliath. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001. Download the resource.

Norris, Michael. Medieval Art: A Resource for Educators. Also available in print; New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. Download the resource.

Pre-Visit Guide for Teachers: The Art of Medieval Europe (PDF)

"Silver Plate with David and Goliath [Byzantine] (17.190.396)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2006 (Entry includes a number of additional resources.)

Objects in the Museum's Collection Related to this Lesson

Plate with the Presentation of David to Saul, 629–30. Byzantine, made in Constantinople. Silver; overall: 10 11/16 x 1 9/16 in. (27.2 x 4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.397)

Marco del Buono Giamberti (Italian, Florentine, 1402–1489) and Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso (Italian, Florentine, 1415/17–1465), The Story of Esther, 1460–70. Tempera and gold on wood, 17 1/2 x 55 3/8 in. (44.5 x 140.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1918 (18.117.2)

Author: Adapted from A Masterwork of Byzantine Art: The David Plates—The Story of David and Goliath, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001