Picture in Focus: David and Goliath by Konstantin Kalynovych

June 26, 2022

Picture in Focus: David and Goliath by Konstantin Kalynovych

My final image in the series on artworks of David and Goliath in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a small-format etching of the famous biblical duel from Russian-Ukrainian Graphic Artist Konstantin Kalynovych. He is known for highly-detailed, surrealistic bookplates that are rich in symbols, imitative of great masters of European art like Hieronymus Bosch, Lucas Cranach, Rembrandt and Vermeer. Kalynovych gives the fatal encounter between the shepherd boy and the giant the look of a Grimm's fairytale illustration, where Goliath plays hide and seek with David below a medieval European-styled castle with turrets, perched on a rocky outcropping. Born in Siberia, Kalynovych grew up and lived for many years in Luhansk, the Russian-speaking region in East Ukraine that is now the scene of some of the bloodiest battles since the Russian invasion in February. Pray for the Peace of Ukraine! (John Kohan)