Samson and Delilah (c. 1616): Art, History and Details

Samson and Delilah (c. 1616) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch, 1590–1656).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In retaliation for Samson’s single-handed decimation of their army, the Philistines bribed his lover Delilah to discover the source of his strength: his hair, uncut since birth. Samson’s hair was shorn as he lay sleeping in Delilah’s lap, draining his strength and allowing the Philistines to capture him. Honthorst intensified the inherent drama of the scene by limiting his depiction to just three closely packed figures, starkly illuminated by a single candle. The old woman’s silencing gesture involves the viewer in the action, making us complicit in Delilah’s deceit.

Object facts

• Title: Samson and Delilah
• Date: c. 1616
• Creator attribution: Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch, 1590–1656)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 158.4 x 122.5 x 11.8 cm (62 3/8 x 48 1/4 x 4 5/8 in.); Case: 139.7 x 177.8 x 28 cm (55 x 70 x 11 in.); Unframed: 129 x 94 cm (50 13/16 x 37 in.)
• Collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1968.23

A detail from the museum

Flickering candlelight and a nocturnal setting enhance the furtive nature of Delilah's actions.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Judson, J. Richard. Gerrit Van Honthorst: A Discussion of His Position in Dutch Art. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1959.
• "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums April–June 1968." The Art Quarterly XXXI, no. 4 (1968): 433–456.
• Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.