Rare Narrative Triptych Recounting The Story Of David And King Saul Attributed To Andrea Lilli

A rare triptych of three large canvases depicting the story of David and King Saul. These three paintings are mounted in their original frames. The first painting recounts how King Saul became jealous of David because of his military successes, leading him to madness and delirium. David played the lyre to calm him. The second painting tells of David fleeing Saul and going to Achis, the Philistine king, but Achis distrusted this powerful young man, protected by a merciful god. David, frightened, pretended to be mad in his presence and was chased away. In the third painting, we learn that Saul gave his daughter Michael in marriage to David, who was then very much in love with him. Later, when Saul became envious of David's valor and military successes, the king ordered his son-in-law killed, but Michael, defying her father's wishes, saved her husband from the messengers sent by Saul to kill him by escaping from the window and hiding an idol in his place in the bed. These three paintings represent a unique iconographic collection and their scenes are drawn from a series of rare engravings by Aegidius Sadeler II (1568-1629) based on drawings by Maerten de Vos (1532-1603), dated between 1580 and 1596. Certificate of attribution issued by ARABELLA CIFANI, art historian and renowned expert in 17th and 18th century Italian painting, provides information with the paintings. Dimensions of the paintings in order: the first: 191 cm x 102 cm; the second: 204 cm x 102 cm; the third: 174 cm x 102 cm