painting, a young man holds the head of another man in one hand and a sword in the other, behind his back.
Story

20 million items now on Europeana

Caravaggio's David with the Head of Goliath is a landmark item on Europeana

by
Europeana Foundation

This autumn, the collections on Europeana has reached 20 million items, increasing the content ten-fold since its initial launch in 2008.

The 20 millionth item is a painting of the Biblical story of David and Goliath painted by the celebrated Caravaggio in 1600-1601.

Caravaggio worked predominantly on Christian themes, linking the sacred and the profane by giving his Biblical characters a raw authenticity and physical presence.

This painting of David and Goliath was a number of Carravagio's artworks depicting these subjects - others are part of the collections inthe Galleria Borghese in Rome, Italy and in the Prado in Madrid, Spain.

painting, a young man holds the head of another man in one hand and a sword in the other, behind his back.

David with the head of Goliath is part of the collections of the Fine Art Museum in Vienna, and provided to Europeana by Kulturpool, the organisation that brings digitised cultural hertage from Austria into Europeana. Its recently added collections also include various artefacts from ancient Egypt, ranging from toiletry items to kitchen utensils.