''The Blinding of Samson'' is a 1636 painting by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, now in the

Städel The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of t ...

(in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

). The painting is the first of its kind in pictorial tradition. No other artist at the time had painted this specific narrative moment. This painting was a gift to the

House of Orange The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of O ...

, Rembrandt's current patron of a few commissioned paintings, via its secretary

Constantijn Huygens Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem ( , , ; 4 September 159628 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist C ...

, as an excuse for the delay of the commissioned Passion paintings. Later it was acquired by

Friedrich Karl von Schönborn Friedrich Karl von Schönborn (or Friedrich Carl, 1674–1746) was the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Prince-Bishop of Bamberg from 1729 to 1746. He also served as ''Reichsvizekanzler'' (Vice-Chancellor) of the Holy Roman Empire from 1705 to 17 ...

and remained in the

Palais Schönborn-Batthyány Palais Schönborn-Batthyány is a Baroque palace in the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria. History It was built by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (20 July 1656 – 5 April 1723) was an Austrian a ...

in Vienna until it was acquired by the Städel in 1905.

Description

''The Blinding of Samson'' shows an episode from the biblical story of Judge

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 ...

. Samson was a

Nazarite In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or a nazarite ( ''Nāzīr'') is an Israelite (i.e. Jewish) man or woman who voluntarily took a vow which is described in . This vow required the nazirite to: * Abstain from wine and strong drink as well as all oth ...

, which gave him special strength when he kept three conditions, such as not cutting his beard and hair. The scene depicted follows the cutting of Samson's hair by

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 ...

, who betrayed him to the

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

. This aspect of the plot is repeated in this painting, since Delilah is shown in the background fleeing with a shock of hair and scissors in hand. Rembrandt also portrayed different aspects of the plot with the other characters. After his hair had been cut off, Samson had to be wrestled to the ground and tied up before his eyes were gouged out. This is what Rembrandt conveyed through the combatants, one of whom fearfully enters the scene, another holds Samson to the ground, one ties him up and one gouges out his eyes. The immediate action of the painting is the climax of the story, the blinding with the penetrating knife and the spurting blood. However, the viewer can reconstruct the entire action via the image.

References

External links

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The Blinding of Samson by REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blinding of Samson, The 1636 paintings Paintings by Rembrandt Paintings in the Städel

Torture in art Oil on canvas paintings

Description

See also

References

External links