David with His Sword (Back)

In the classic biblical tale of faith, daring, and skill overcoming brute strength and superior odds (1 Samuel 17), the shepherd boy David slew the armored Philistine giant Goliath with just a stave, a slingshot, and a pouch containing a few pebbles from a local brook. After stunning Goliath with a stone from his slingshot, David quickly took up the giant's sword and severed his head.

Assured that his audience knew the story, Salomon de Bray could evoke a meaningful narrative by depicting only a boy with an oversize sword. De Bray's David embodies youth and naiveté; he is an ordinary, rather blank-faced Dutch youth, not an idealized heroic type.

David with His Sword shares the same size, medium, and composition with the artist's Samson with the Jawbone; they were probably paired as pendants or as part of a series of Old Testament heroes.