''Samson and Delilah'' is a 1654

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Baroque painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (il Guercino). It is on display in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, France. Its inventory number is 316. This work (and its

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...

''Lot and his Daughters'', today in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

), was painted in 1654 for Charles II, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, and delivered in 1657. It was sold between 1715 and 1720 and later belonged to John Charles Robinson. Robinson presented it to the Strasbourg museum in 1893, as gesture of friendship towards its director,

Wilhelm von Bode Wilhelm von Bode (10 December 1845 – 1 March 1929) was a German art historian and museum curator. Born Arnold Wilhelm Bode in Calvörde, and known as Wilhelm Bode for most of his career, he was ennobled in 1913, and thereafter adopted the ar ...

, who had purchased several items from his collection. he accession date was given as 1896 in previous publications.ref name="Jacquot"/> Contrary to the Biblical narrative in the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the ...

, but according to the retelling by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

in ''

Antiquities of the Jews ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (; , ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. It cont ...

'',

Delilah Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ; ) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved by Samson, a Nazirite who possesses great strength and serves as t ...

is shown as cutting

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

's hair herself (in the Bible, a man is summoned to do this task). The severity of the composition, the muted colors, and Delilah's sculptural profile, are characteristic of Guercino's late, classical manner. The theme of the painting and of its pendant, '' Lot and his daughters'', does furthermore constitute a warning against the dangers of

drunkenness Alcohol intoxication, commonly described in higher doses as drunkenness or inebriation, and known in overdose as alcohol poisoning, is the behavior and physical effects caused by recent consumption of alcohol. The technical term ''intoxication ...

. A preparatory drawing (current location unknown) depicts Delilah at half-length, with a more girlish expression and a less athletic build.

References

External links

Une visite, un thème - Peinture du XVIIème siècle - 5 genres
p. 2. Short presentation on the museum's website. {{Authority control 1654 paintings Paintings by Guercino Paintings in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg Oil on canvas paintings History paintings Nude paintings of women