''Samson and Delilah'' is a 1784

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...

by the Italian-born British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

John Francis Rigaud. It depicts the biblical scene of

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 ...

and

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 ...

, a popular subject in art. Unusually Riguad chose to show the moment of Samson breaking free of his chains rather than the more famous scene of Delilah cutting his hair. It is also known as ''Samson Breaking his Bands''. After being elected to full membership as a

Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, Riguad presented this as his

diploma work In art, a reception piece is a work submitted by an artist to an academy for approval as part of the requirements for admission to membership. The piece is normally representative of the artist's work, and the organization's judgement of its skil ...

to the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

which was then based in

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/samson-and-delilah

References

Bibliography

* Eynikel, Erik M.M. & Nicklas, Tobias (ed.) ''Samson: Hero Or Fool? The Many Faces of Samson''. Brill, 2014. * Myrone, Martin, Frayling, Christopher & Warner, Matthew. ''Fothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination''. Harry N. Abrams, 2006 1784 paintings Paintings in the Royal Academy History paintings Oil on canvas paintings Nude paintings of women Paintings of Samson {{1780s-painting-stub