Highly Important Jacques Bergé (Flemish, 1693 - 1756) King David Sculpture 1736

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Jacques Bergé
"King David" - Terracotta or Fired Clay with Polychrome Remnants
Dated 1736
14.5" h x 5.5" w x … Read more Jacques Bergé
"King David" - Terracotta or Fired Clay with Polychrome Remnants
Dated 1736
14.5" h x 5.5" w x 4.5" d

A rare and exceptionally refined terracotta sculpture of *King David*, signed and dated *Jacques Bergé fecit 1736*. Executed in red-fired terracotta, the work stands as a testament to the devotional and sculptural sophistication of mid-18th century Flemish religious art, embodying the technical precision and spiritual gravitas characteristic of Bergé’s oeuvre.

The figure is presented in full round, standing in contraposto with his weight placed gently on the left leg, the right slightly advanced and barefoot, reinforcing the sacred humility often attributed to the biblical monarch. The king’s visage is carved with extraordinary psychological insight: his furrowed brow and parted lips lend an oratorical tension to the upturned face, as if in divine communion or musical ecstasy. His almond-shaped eyes gaze heavenward with intensity, while his bifurcated beard, parted lips, and high cheekbones convey a fusion of aged wisdom and inspired revelation.

The figure’s drapery is masterfully articulated, enveloping the form in deep, swelling folds that cascade down the torso and legs with a sense of weight and rhythm reminiscent of the French academic tradition. The robe is clasped at the shoulder and bound at the chest by a massive circular medallion or pectoral ornament, a likely allusion to the breastplate of judgment worn by Hebrew high priests, reinforcing David’s dual identity as king and prophet. A heavy chain passes over the shoulder and down the back, sculpted in rhythmic links, suggesting royal regalia or perhaps referencing the biblical allusions to bondage and deliverance.

In his right hand, David grasps a classically inspired lyre—a hallmark attribute in his iconography—its scrolling arms and angled soundboard rendered with elegant linearity. The instrument, though resting on the ground, is integrated formally and symbolically into the figure’s narrative, invoking David’s authorship of the Psalms and his divine favor as a musician-king. His left hand, drawn modestly across his chest, may represent a moment of introspection, or the expressive pause before a song—a potent metaphor for prayer in musical form. The bare feet and visible toes, exquisitely modeled, emphasize the figure’s humanity and proximity to the divine through earthly suffering.

The signature *J. Bergé fecit 1736* is inscribed beneath the base in script, confirming the authorship of Jacques Bergé (1696–1756), a sculptor of Flemish origin whose artistic trajectory traversed Paris and the Southern Netherlands. Trained under the eminent French academician Nicolas Coustou, Bergé absorbed the expressive modeling and anatomical finesse of the French Baroque, yet his mature works reflect a distinct Northern sensibility—earthy, emotive, and often suffused with theological weight.

After his Parisian training, Bergé established himself in Leuven and elsewhere in the Austrian Netherlands, where he received important ecclesiastical commissions. Among his most significant works are the monumental wooden sculptures of *Aaron* and *Melchizedek* created for the abbot's throne at Park Abbey in Heverlee—figures that share with this terracotta David a profound dignity and a theatrical sense of physical stillness. Bergé’s works, while rare today, are preserved in several Belgian collections, and select terracottas survive in continental European museums, such as the *King David* and *Bathsheba* pair held in the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo.

This present sculpture may have functioned as either a preparatory bozzetto for a larger ecclesiastical commission or as a fully autonomous devotional object intended for private veneration. The surviving surface, which bears traces of polychromy and a warm, weathered patina, points to its original presentation within an interior sacred context. The presence of dowel holes and the flat rear plane suggests that it may have been designed for a niche or architectural setting—perhaps as part of a larger cycle of Old Testament patriarchs.

The choice of David as subject is significant: he embodies kingship sanctified by divine favor, penitence paired with triumph, and artistic inspiration as a form of prayer. In Catholic Europe, particularly in Counter-Reformation Flanders, David’s image would have resonated deeply with ideals of monarchy aligned with faith, and with the liturgical emphasis on music as a sacred art.

As such, this terracotta figure of *King David* by Jacques Bergé represents not merely a devotional image but a deeply intellectual, spiritual, and artistic statement—uniting the poetic and prophetic traditions of the Old Testament with the sensuous modeling and theatrical introspection of 18th-century French and Flemish sculptural expression. It stands as one of the rare surviving examples of Bergé’s smaller-scale work, encapsulating his importance within the canon of early modern religious sculpture in the Low Countries. See less