13

The Capture of Samson, 1609-10, AIC

NARRATOR: In the center of this tumultuous scene, the Old Testament hero Samson is captured. To the left is his lover, Delilah, who has betrayed him to his enemies by allowing them to cut his hair and deprive him of his strength. In this dynamic oil sketch, Rubens is working out how to tell Samson’s story.

NICO VAN HOUT: He chooses the moment where he's captured and before he's blinded and that enables Rubens to oppose the drama of the violence, with a very quiet and rather diva-like appearance of Delilah.

Her sensuality is opposing that sort of violence that breaks loose and it always comes in mind to me that a scene like this shows Rubens as a filmmaker. We see the same tricks used in film as in in oils. You see the drama of the action with the oblique, and the foreshortening of the figure of Samson, and we see the light falling mainly upon the female actress here, Delilah.

NARRATOR: Elsewhere in this gallery, you’ll find another oil sketch – this time, showing an earlier point in the story where Delilah watches while the sleeping Samson’s hair is cut – a charged moment that will set off the catastrophic consequences we see playing out here.