Stories of David

Aldo Carpi completed stained-glass window V39 within Milan Duomo after the end of World War II, in 1947.

The artist began his working relationship with the Veneranda Fabbrica—the institution responsible for the Cathedral's construction — when he was Professor of painting at the Brera Academy, at the end of the 1930s.

Winner of a competition organized by the Fabbrica in 1939, Carpi projected the first stained-glass window along the northern side of the Cathedral, taking inspiration from medieval glassmaking art.

The long gestation was due to the war, a period during which Carpi was denounced because of his Jewish origins; his paternal grandfather was Jew who converted to Christianity.

Carpi thus had to undergo terrible imprisonment within the Mauthausen and Gusen I concentration camps. He survived, returning to work for the Duomo and creating the cartoons for stained-glass window V39.

The coloring of the window draws on the French-Nordic tradition. Carpi predominantly uses tiles in green, blue, and golden yellow colors, with some deep red pieces breaking up the overall view.

The narrative of the life of King David, prophet and founder of the Jewish Dynasty, was created using a well-defined design, with the scenes being developed on different levels. The episodes are grafted onto one another.

The figures are outlined with a definite geometry, in a static and composed manner, crowding the panels that contain a continuous flow of events and giving life to an intense narrative.

Seen from close-up, some details describe truly evocative episodes, such as this figure that is part of the largest scene: David on the throne of Judah.

Very recognizable within the forest of figures is a representation of David with a harp, within the upper part of the stained-glass window.

Aldo Carpi relied upon a collaboration with Luigi Vianello, master glassmaker for the firm Fontana Arte, for the implementation of the preparatory cartoons, as the signatures at the base of the window remind us.

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