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Hanns Lautensack

David and Goliath

1551
Etching on paper
17.5 × 23 cm (6.9 × 9.1 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Hanns Lautensack is known as a prolific etcher of landscapes, particularly those with views of southern Germany marked by knobby pollard willows. Unusually, he focused here on a biblical story. The Philistine giant Goliath, a towering hulk of a man, is almost as tall as the central tree, while David, the youthful underdog who would fell the mighty Goliath like an oak and become king of the Israelites, strides in from the right with an exuberant sunset behind him. This trademark light effect recurs in other Danube School works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Altdorfer, and Wolfgang Huber.

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