Swiss publisher Teriade commissioned Marc Chagall to do a set of lithographs on Biblical themes for a special number of the deluxe art review Verve. The result was some of the most intense color lithographs that Chagall ever made. These lithographs (12 of which have an additional black-and-white lithograph printed on the reverse) show Chagall revelling in color but always sensitive to the themes of the stories he picks to illustrate.
This image, David and Bathsheba, is one of these lithographs. Illustrated in the catalogue for the 1973 Musee National Message Biblique Marc Chagall inauguration. This is a very rare lithograph and one of Chagall's most important prints, it tends to get full page illustrations in books that present most of Chagall's works. It is reproduced in color on the rear cover of Charles Sorlier, Chagall: Le Livre des livres / Illustrated Books. It is also reproduced full-size in color as the frontispiece of the book and again full-size and in color on page 207 to illustrate the 1956 Issue of Verve devoted to The Bible.