David

Lorenzo Monaco's David, painted around 1408 and now at the Metropolitan Museum, likely formed part of a series of prophets and patriarchs from a larger altarpiece ensemble. The Old Testament figure of David held particular significance in Florence, where he symbolized both the city's republican ideals and the lineage of Christ. Lorenzo Monaco — Piero di Giovanni — was a Camaldolese monk who became one of Florence's most gifted painters in the transition between the Gothic and the Early Renaissance.

The prophet is rendered in Lorenzo Monaco's distinctive linear style with flowing robes and an expressive face, painted in tempera with gold ground in a format suggesting its original function as a polyptych element.