Peter Paul Rubens, (Flemish, 1577–1640), Samson and Delilah, circa 1609, oil on panel, Cincinnati Art Museum, Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Leyman Endowment, 1972.459.

Audio Description

This painting, titled Samson and Delilah, was made around 1609 by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, who lived from 1577 to 1640. It is painted in oil on panel and was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum through the Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Leyman Endowment. Its accession number is 1972.459.

This small, square painting, about 20 by 20 inches, shows a dark interior scene. An oil lamp at the far left of the composition throws light on four figures crowded together in the left foreground. A woman reclines on a couch in profile to the right. Her white skin is brightly lit. Her red dress and white under garment have been pushed down to expose her shoulders and breasts. She looks down at heavily-muscled man with a ruddy complexion as he sleeps soundly, his head in her lap and his left arm draped over her legs. To the left stands an old woman wearing a white veil hunching over the group and holding a candle to provide light for the young man standing to the right. He leans over the couple to cut the sleeping man’s hair. In the background at the far right through a partially open doorway is visible a group of soldiers waiting to enter the room.

Label Copy

This painting, titled Samson and Delilah, was made around 1609 by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, who lived from 1577 to 1640. It is painted in oil on panel and was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum through the Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Leyman Endowment. Its accession number is 1972.459.

Peter Paul Rubens produced this oil sketch as a preliminary study for a larger painting, working out details in the arrangement of figures and color palette of the scene. He depicts the Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah at the critical moment when Delilah betrays Samson to the Philistines. Rubens produced this sketch shortly after he returned from Italy, where he lived for eight years. His study in Italy of ancient and Renaissance art, especially sculpture, was pivotal for his career.

Rubens was the primary representative of Flemish Baroque art among the “Berlin 202”: six of his paintings traveled to the U.S. in 1945, displaying the master’s characteristic loose brushwork, bold colors, and dramatic contrasts of light and dark tones. Demonstrating the breadth of Rubens’s work, the subjects included portraiture, landscape, biblical and mythological paintings. One painting, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, was, like the Cincinnati panel, an oil sketch for a larger picture.

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