Description
French school of the middle of the XIXth century Saul asking the pythoness of Andor to call the ghost of Samuel Below: Landscape Study Oil sketch on its original canvas 31 x 42 cm The episode is taken from the Bible (Books of Samuel). At the end of his reign, Saul, abandoned by Yahweh, trembles before the advance of the Philistines allied to his rival David. Although he himself had proscribed sorcerers and other diviners, he went in secret to a palmist from the village of Andor who held a talisman. Eager for advice, he asks her to conjure up the recently deceased prophet Samuel. Samuel appears to the pythoness, but Saul, who prostrates himself, cannot see him. The ghost first refuses to answer Saul's questions, then predicts his fall and that of his dynasty. Saul will die the next day. Rarely treated, this dark subject has however inspired artists inclined to the fantastic, like Salvator Rosa, William Blake or Gustave Doré.
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French school of the middle of the XIXth century Saul asking the pythoness of Andor to call the ghost of Samuel Below: Landscape Study Oil sketch on its original canvas 31 x 42 cm The episode is taken from the Bible (Books of Samuel). At the end of his reign, Saul, abandoned by Yahweh, trembles before the advance of the Philistines allied to his rival David. Although he himself had proscribed sorcerers and other diviners, he went in secret to a palmist from the village of Andor who held a talisman. Eager for advice, he asks her to conjure up the recently deceased prophet Samuel. Samuel appears to the pythoness, but Saul, who prostrates himself, cannot see him. The ghost first refuses to answer Saul's questions, then predicts his fall and that of his dynasty. Saul will die the next day. Rarely treated, this dark subject has however inspired artists inclined to the fantastic, like Salvator Rosa, William Blake or Gustave Doré.
