Do Chagalls Depictions of David Reflect His Intense Religiosity Essay

Do Chagalls Depictions of David Reflect His Intense Religiosity - Essay Example Interestingly, David is one of the Biblical characters who are often depicted in Chagall's paintings. Throughout his works, Chagall was able to incorporate David's stories, as stated in the Jewish Bible, with his own interpretation of David. Chagall's understanding of David, which is influenced by his intense religiosity according to Friedman (1984, p.376), is shown by comparing the implications of his paintings to the Hebrew scripts. Hence, Chagall's depictions of David in his paintings, which is a juxtaposition of his own interpretation and David's stories in the Bible, reflect his own intense religiosity. Marc Chagall is an artist famous for his etchings which reflect interpretations of Biblical stories. He admitted the his viewing of the Bible was less as a religious text and more as an interpretation of the nature of humans and the divinity inherent in them as well as their flaws (Amishai-Meisels, 1996, p. 72). Also, he confessed that his artworks represent his effort in transmitting to canvas the echo of nature portrayed by the Bible. Hence, he chose to focus on the love the Bible tries to foster, rather than on the punitive aspect of it. The aim is to strive for that perfect love, forgiveness and mercy, without letting the retribution to be the focus of the stories. This view of Chagall... This is evident in his approach to his artworks, where he uses abstractive figures supporting a central subject. This type of painting originated from Jews (Saltman, 1981, p.44). However, the way he views the Bible is influenced by his Christian background. This can be seen in the implications of his paintings depicting stories of David, among other Biblical stories, which focuses on the themes of love and forgiveness while ignoring the themes of punishment and discipline. In this regard, the Christian influence is clear. Although the Jewish Bible is the same as the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, the emphasis on the Christian Bible represented by the New Testament is on love and forgiveness, which is amply demonstrated through Chagall's work. Chagall's painting "David and Bathsheba" depicts the affair which was shared by David and Bathsheba. The painting itself covers David's lust for a married woman named Bathsheba and this woman's conception of their child. In the Bible, the affair started when David sends for her and " she came to him, and he lay with her The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, 'I am pregnant'" (Holy Bible, 2 Samuel 11:4-5). Knowing that his act of adultery was sinful, he initially tries to cover it up by sending for her husband Uriah on the excuse of wanting news of the battle and then sending him home so that he may sleep with his wife and, therefore, claim the child as his own. When that fails, he engineers Uriah's death in order to marry Bathsheba. In doing so, he has fallen short of every standard set by God, and later God punishes him by refusing to cure the child conceived by Bathsheba, allowing it to die. The central subject of the painting "David and Bathsheba"