And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. 1 Samuel 18:11
"An impressive marble sculpture of the first king of Israel, which disappeared from public view for 150 years, has been acquired by a North Carolina art museum from a boarding school in England.
But before the sculpture titled “Saul Under the Influence of Evil” is
installed in the permanent collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art, conservators must remove the glitter stuck in the crevices of the statue’s clothing and remnants of what might be black fingernail polish.
It seems the students of Rendcomb College, a private boarding school, liked to dress up Saul as various characters during the holidays, including Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and Santa Claus, said John Coffey.
American sculptor William Wetmore Story carved “Saul” in 1865 in Rome, and it was shown that same year in Dublin after Pope Pius IX paid for it to be exhibited there, Coffey said. When art historians began reviewing Story’s career some 100 years later, they couldn’t find “Saul,” he said. Turns out, Sir Francis Goldsmid — the first Jew to become an English barrister — had bought the statue and taken it to his country house in Gloucestershire. The house later became Rendcomb College, which sold the statue to the museum earlier this year for an undisclosed amount.
Story said his sculpture depicted the king at the moment when the evil spirit enters him with one hand clutching his beard and his other hand reaching for his dagger.
“You’re put in the position of being David when you confront this statue,” Coffey said. “He’s just glowering at you from this pedestal.”
Anne Faircloth, daughter of the late US senator Lauch Faircloth and a member of the museum’s board of trustees, and her husband, Frederick Beaujeu-Dufor, bought the statue in honor of Coffey."
TimesOfIsrael
"An impressive marble sculpture of the first king of Israel, which disappeared from public view for 150 years, has been acquired by a North Carolina art museum from a boarding school in England.
But before the sculpture titled “Saul Under the Influence of Evil” is
It seems the students of Rendcomb College, a private boarding school, liked to dress up Saul as various characters during the holidays, including Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and Santa Claus, said John Coffey.
American sculptor William Wetmore Story carved “Saul” in 1865 in Rome, and it was shown that same year in Dublin after Pope Pius IX paid for it to be exhibited there, Coffey said. When art historians began reviewing Story’s career some 100 years later, they couldn’t find “Saul,” he said. Turns out, Sir Francis Goldsmid — the first Jew to become an English barrister — had bought the statue and taken it to his country house in Gloucestershire. The house later became Rendcomb College, which sold the statue to the museum earlier this year for an undisclosed amount.
Story said his sculpture depicted the king at the moment when the evil spirit enters him with one hand clutching his beard and his other hand reaching for his dagger.
“You’re put in the position of being David when you confront this statue,” Coffey said. “He’s just glowering at you from this pedestal.”
Anne Faircloth, daughter of the late US senator Lauch Faircloth and a member of the museum’s board of trustees, and her husband, Frederick Beaujeu-Dufor, bought the statue in honor of Coffey."
TimesOfIsrael