Probably given by the artist to Richard Monckton Milnes, Baron Houghton (1809-1885), c.1869

Simon Reynolds, The Vision of Simeon Solomon, 1985, illustrated pl.17;
Colin Cruise, Love Revealed - Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites, 2005, p.70

The sheet is adhered to backing paper about the edges but does not appear to be laid down and cockles slightly. There are spots of foxing throughout the work and a larger stain near the centre of the right edge. The work should benefit well from restoration. Held under glass in a gilt frame.
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This remarkable drawing is a major re-discovery of one of the most significant examples of Pre-Raphaelite draughtsmanship. It demonstrates the genius of one of the most fascinating and unconventional artists of the movement at a time of his life when he was at his most potent and inspired. It depicts a scene from the life of David related in II Samuel 6, inspired by the artist’s profound Jewish faith. The moment is the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant brought from Baale-Judah to the city of Jerusalem. King David has rushed from his home into the sunlight, to dance in front of the Ark as it is carried through the street by bearers accompanied by musicians playing lyres. In the doorway of David’s house, accompanied by a leashed antelope, stands the regal figure of his wife Queen Michal, daughter of King Saul who watches David’s dancing with disdain while other women of her household watch the procession. In scripture Michal’s displeasure was caused by her husband’s state of undress and in a sketchbook drawing (The Jewish Museum of London) Solomon drew David clothed only in an ephod (short apron-like garment) raising his leg to dance and exposing himself far more explicitly than in the present drawing.

The story of King David had appealed to Solomon since his childhood and had a strong hold over his imagination for many years. David Dancing Before the Ark was drawn a year after the famous Babylon Hath been a Golden Cup (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery) and the untraced drawing David Playing Before Saul. Elements from the present drawing were used again in Queen Esther Hearing News of the Intended Massacre of the Jews also drawn in 1860 (private collection), such as the peacocks and the doves and the frieze-like perspective which probably derived from Solomon’s study of the Assyrian bas-reliefs at the British Museum. The figure of the mother at the window watching the Ark and the old woman crouched at the bottom of the steps holding a baby are very like those depicted in the contemporary drawing Ruth, Naomi and the Child Obed (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery). The drawing also influenced several early oil paintings, including A young Musician Employed in the Temple Service During the Feast of Tabernacles ꦿof 1861 (private collection) in which the figure is taken directly from the central figure in the present drawing.

It was the poet Charles Swinburne who introduced Solomon to the 'notable hedonist and patron of the arts' (Reynolds, p.15) Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton and in the summer of 1868 Solomon travelled to Houghton's country estate at Fryston. With typical mischievousnous, Solomon arrived masquerading as a Jewish prophet dressed in fancy dress and proceeded to spout long passages of sonorous Hebrew ritual, much to the confusion of his hosts and their guests. Among the other guests at the house party was the wealthy Etonian tutor Oscar Browning with whom Solomon became close. Solomon's colourful personality clearly earned him the friendship of the Houghtons and it was probably around this time that David Dancing Before the Ark was given to his hosts. The Hebrew inscription along the lower right edge of the drawing is both a serious link to the inspiration for the drawing but perhaps also refers to Solomon’s Hebrew speeches when he first arrived at Fryston. The light-hearted subject of the drawing may ꦡalso have been intended 🙈to amuse the Houghtons although it is simultaneously a profound picture of great artistic and historic importance.