The old testament hero samson rests his head on his hand in a pensive, even melancholic pose. Objects on the table recall two of his heroic deeds: he killed a lion with his bare hands, and liberated the israelites by slaughtering a thousand philistines with a donkey’s jawbone. Samson’s cuirass, or breastplate, is joined at the shoulder by a clasp in the form of a bee—the emblem of the barberini family, who commissioned the painting. The figure of samson may be a self-portrait of the artist. Object Type: painting. Genre: historiated portrait. Date: 1625. Place of creation: France, 17th century. Dimensions: Framed: 157 x 125 x 7 cm (61 13/16 x 49 3/16 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 135.6 x 102.8 cm (53 3/8 x 40 1/2 in.). Medium: oil on canvas. Depicted People: Samson. Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art. Valentin de Boulogne - Samson, Clevelandart 1972.50
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