David doodt een leeuw en een beer 1772 - 1773

Antoine Alexandre Joseph Cardon made this print, "David killing a lion and a bear", sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. It illustrates a story from the Old Testament, where the young David proves his strength and courage by protecting his flock from wild animals. But let's consider the context in which Cardon was working. He was a printmaker in Brussels, part of a network of artists and publishers who disseminated images across Europe. The art market at this time was beginning to open, and prints like this made art accessible to the rising middle classes. More broadly, prints like this provided moral lessons, using biblical stories to promote certain values. David's triumph over the lion and the bear could be seen as an allegory for the triumph of good over evil, or of civilization over savagery. To understand this print fully, we can look at the history of printmaking, the rise of the art market, and the role of religion in public life at the time. Each element provides additional layers of meaning.