Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was such a famous painter from the 17th century that he has become known by only his first name. This painting called The Blinding of Samson was done in 1636.
This painting is about the story of Samson and how he was betrayed by the woman he loved, name Delilah. She asked him three times what would weaken his strength and each time failed. He finally told her the truth and she betrayed him by telling his secret of strength to the Philistines. She told them she would cut his hair and then his strength would be gone. After she cut his hair, they came and attacked him, then took both of his eyes.
This painting makes me feeling like I am in the moment as if I was watching a movie and paused it right at this moment. The story behind it tells me that just because you love someone they might be the one that's trying to bring you down. I really like this painting because you can almost feel like you are there watching in a corner
In this painting the whole scale of light, from the deepest shadows to the intense bright light pouring into the tent, has gained in power and gradations over the works of the Leiden period.
when i look at this painting i wonder why did it take like 4 men to keep samon down but only 1 woman to take his strength by cutting his hair couldnt she have also stabed his eyes out too?
Rembrant’s use of tenebrism is captivating. The spotlight shining into the cave and reflecting off of the soldiers’ armor gives it an almost three dimensional look. The painting is very real and brutal.
The Blinding of Samson is seems almost cartoonish to me because Samson is so large and the soldiers look they couldn’t be more than 5 feet tall. Samson, Delilah, and the three central soldiers seem realistic but the soldiers on either side of the painting have very over exaggerated expressions.
20 - And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. 21 - But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
It is to be interpreted by many biblical scholars that the Philistines gouged out Samson's eyes so that he could never see another Philistine woman again. This is a very powerful act of distaste for Samson, a man of God, for the Philistines worshipped Dagon; a pagan deity believed to be the father of Baal. I can sense the agony in Samson's face, as the woman he loves runs away with his locks of hair through which God gave him his immense strength. As he lay defenseless, I can feel the deepest sense of empathy for his gruesome defeat. The story does not end here, for it is found that he destroys the temple where he is captive, killing everyone, including himself and his captors.
Rembrandt did an excellent job in capturing the emotion of the scene, but his values lack somewhat in definition. As MK has said, the soldier on the far right appears cartoonish due to the improper facial proportions. Seeing it from another perspective however, this could have been Rembrandt's commentary that the Philistines lack humanity. The triangular composition tradition is making a resurgence with the apex being the top of the cave's entrance; the two feet of the triangle being the soldier holding the spear's left foot and the extended cape of the soldier administering the gouging. Emotionally provocative, realistically deficient.
This painting tells the story of Sampson and Delilah. Sampson was a legendary warrior with unbelievable strength was given to him by God, the only thing to take away his strength was cutting his hair, which he eventually told to Delilah. She then cut his hair and let his enemies capture him and take him prisoner, as well as gouging out his eyes which is shown prominently in this piece. The painting as a whole is mainly brown tones and gives it a dull look which is overpowered by how energetic the subject is. My favorite detail of this piece is how Rembrandt decided to include Delilah in the background running away with his hair and scissors. I also find it interesting that he included five soldiers in order to capture Sampson even though they believed he has lost his strength at that time.
Rembrandt made most of his works about religion as a basic theme. The reason behind this was because his mother was a strong roman catholic and his father belonged to a dutch reformed church. Around the same time he did the piece of art he also produced an artwork called Susanna. The year he produced Susanna was the same year this artwork was produced while starting on the piece called Belshazzar's Feast. The next year after he produced The Archangel leaving Tobias while working on Belshazzar's Feast.
The figures in the work catch my attention because of how many it took to contain a single man. It shows the emotional struggle of the soldiers on right side as they all try and contain the single man. I also enjoy the fleeing woman and how she looks back to see if the deed had been done in almost an ironic caring manner.
This is talking about the story of Samson and how he fell for a woman Delilah and basically Samson was taking vengeance on the Philistines and when Samson was resting on Delilah's lap, the philistines gouged out the eyes of Samson and he became blind.
I like the picture and I definitely think it goes well with the passage of what happened to him. The color choice is good because it was a dark time. The lighting works really well in this painting as well.
The painting is about the story of Samson and Delilah, from the Old Testament. Samson had great incredible strength, and no one could compare to his strength. Until one day Delilah had discovered his secret of where he was getting so much power from. Delilah told the soldiers that his strength was coming from his long hair. The soldiers then cut Samsons hair off, and he lost all his strength. The soldiers now could defeat him as shown in the painting.
I like the dramatic scene in the picture. I like the light colors coming from the outside of the cave and the bright colors on Samson. While the dark colors are mostly around the soldiers. Gives me the sense of who was the highlight of the painting.
Looking at this painting you can see a man being torn down from reality. The story of Samson and Delilah, a woman who betrayed a man and a man who was betrayed by a woman. This story has many life lessons and a moral that needs to be heard. "Don't judge a book by its cover" so many have heard this but not really grasp the meaning of it, because this painting shows every aspect to its meaning, it gives the feeling of betrayal, anger, sadness and fear all at once making you feel obligated to respond in some type of way. What I like most about this painting is how well it shows the story in one go. You see everything happening all at once from Delilah cutting the hair to Samson being attach and him not being able to fight back and losing everything he has because of what he thought was love was turn into something unimaginable.
I researched a little bit about the painter known as Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn who was born in Netherlands in 1667. He was the eighth son out of nine children in his family. During his life Rembrandt enjoyed telling stories and was extremely religious. He also study at the University of Leiden studying roman, grammar and drawing.
This painting represent story of Samson and his betrayal of Delilah over the Philistines in the bible. This painting was very moving to me to me however i found the contrasting patterns from light to dark seem dull in my eyes but made sense to mood of painting. It felt like painting was letting visualize the betrayal of Samson and feeling of regret, sorrow and desolation itself.
This painting is about the story of Samson and how he was betrayed by the woman he loved, name Delilah. She asked him three times what would weaken his strength and each time failed. He finally told her the truth and she betrayed him by telling his secret of strength to the Philistines. She told them she would cut his hair and then his strength would be gone. After she cut his hair, they came and attacked him, then took both of his eyes.
ReplyDeleteThis painting makes me feeling like I am in the moment as if I was watching a movie and paused it right at this moment. The story behind it tells me that just because you love someone they might be the one that's trying to bring you down. I really like this painting because you can almost feel like you are there watching in a corner
In this painting the whole scale of light, from the deepest shadows to the intense bright light pouring into the tent, has gained in power and gradations over the works of the Leiden period.
ReplyDeletewhen i look at this painting i wonder why did it take like 4 men to keep samon down but only 1 woman to take his strength by cutting his hair couldnt she have also stabed his eyes out too?
Rembrant’s use of tenebrism is captivating. The spotlight shining into the cave and reflecting off of the soldiers’ armor gives it an almost three dimensional look. The painting is very real and brutal.
ReplyDeleteThe Blinding of Samson is seems almost cartoonish to me because Samson is so large and the soldiers look they couldn’t be more than 5 feet tall. Samson, Delilah, and the three central soldiers seem realistic but the soldiers on either side of the painting have very over exaggerated expressions.
The Book of Judges 16:20-21 (King James Version)
ReplyDelete20 - And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.
21 - But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
It is to be interpreted by many biblical scholars that the Philistines gouged out Samson's eyes so that he could never see another Philistine woman again. This is a very powerful act of distaste for Samson, a man of God, for the Philistines worshipped Dagon; a pagan deity believed to be the father of Baal. I can sense the agony in Samson's face, as the woman he loves runs away with his locks of hair through which God gave him his immense strength. As he lay defenseless, I can feel the deepest sense of empathy for his gruesome defeat. The story does not end here, for it is found that he destroys the temple where he is captive, killing everyone, including himself and his captors.
Rembrandt did an excellent job in capturing the emotion of the scene, but his values lack somewhat in definition. As MK has said, the soldier on the far right appears cartoonish due to the improper facial proportions. Seeing it from another perspective however, this could have been Rembrandt's commentary that the Philistines lack humanity. The triangular composition tradition is making a resurgence with the apex being the top of the cave's entrance; the two feet of the triangle being the soldier holding the spear's left foot and the extended cape of the soldier administering the gouging. Emotionally provocative, realistically deficient.
This painting tells the story of Sampson and Delilah. Sampson was a legendary warrior with unbelievable strength was given to him by God, the only thing to take away his strength was cutting his hair, which he eventually told to Delilah. She then cut his hair and let his enemies capture him and take him prisoner, as well as gouging out his eyes which is shown prominently in this piece.
ReplyDeleteThe painting as a whole is mainly brown tones and gives it a dull look which is overpowered by how energetic the subject is. My favorite detail of this piece is how Rembrandt decided to include Delilah in the background running away with his hair and scissors. I also find it interesting that he included five soldiers in order to capture Sampson even though they believed he has lost his strength at that time.
Rembrandt made most of his works about religion as a basic theme. The reason behind this was because his mother was a strong roman catholic and his father belonged to a dutch reformed church. Around the same time he did the piece of art he also produced an artwork called Susanna. The year he produced Susanna was the same year this artwork was produced while starting on the piece called Belshazzar's Feast. The next year after he produced The Archangel leaving Tobias while working on Belshazzar's Feast.
ReplyDeleteThe figures in the work catch my attention because of how many it took to contain a single man. It shows the emotional struggle of the soldiers on right side as they all try and contain the single man. I also enjoy the fleeing woman and how she looks back to see if the deed had been done in almost an ironic caring manner.
This is talking about the story of Samson and how he fell for a woman Delilah and basically Samson was taking vengeance on the Philistines and when Samson was resting on Delilah's lap, the philistines gouged out the eyes of Samson and he became blind.
ReplyDeleteI like the picture and I definitely think it goes well with the passage of what happened to him. The color choice is good because it was a dark time. The lighting works really well in this painting as well.
The painting is about the story of Samson and Delilah, from the Old Testament. Samson had great incredible strength, and no one could compare to his strength. Until one day Delilah had discovered his secret of where he was getting so much power from. Delilah told the soldiers that his strength was coming from his long hair. The soldiers then cut Samsons hair off, and he lost all his strength. The soldiers now could defeat him as shown in the painting.
ReplyDeleteI like the dramatic scene in the picture. I like the light colors coming from the outside of the cave and the bright colors on Samson. While the dark colors are mostly around the soldiers. Gives me the sense of who was the highlight of the painting.
Looking at this painting you can see a man being torn down from reality. The story of Samson and Delilah, a woman who betrayed a man and a man who was betrayed by a woman. This story has many life lessons and a moral that needs to be heard. "Don't judge a book by its cover" so many have heard this but not really grasp the meaning of it, because this painting shows every aspect to its meaning, it gives the feeling of betrayal, anger, sadness and fear all at once making you feel obligated to respond in some type of way.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like most about this painting is how well it shows the story in one go. You see everything happening all at once from Delilah cutting the hair to Samson being attach and him not being able to fight back and losing everything he has because of what he thought was love was turn into something unimaginable.
I researched a little bit about the painter known as Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn who was born in Netherlands in 1667. He was the eighth son out of nine children in his family. During his life Rembrandt enjoyed telling stories and was extremely religious. He also study at the University of Leiden studying roman, grammar and drawing.
ReplyDeleteThis painting represent story of Samson and his betrayal of Delilah over the Philistines in the bible. This painting was very moving to me to me however i found the contrasting patterns from light to dark seem dull in my eyes but made sense to mood of painting. It felt like painting was letting visualize the betrayal of Samson and feeling of regret, sorrow and desolation itself.