Samson and Delilah

Unknown artist

Delilah seduced Samson into telling her the secret of his superhuman strength, the source of which lay in his long hair. Lievens painted Samson asleep on Delilah’s lap. She hands a pair of scissors to the frightened man so that he can cut off Samson’s hair. In their early years, Lievens and Rembrandt – who shared a workshop – regularly looked at one another’s work. Rembrandt’s influence can be discerned in the expressive rendering of the faces.