Name of Object:

Samson Imprisoned

Location:

Rome, Latium, Italy

Holding Museum:

Borghese Gallery

 About Borghese Gallery, Rome

Original Owner:

Unknown

Current Owner:

Italian State

Date of Object:

1590/95

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Annibale Carracci (1560, Bologna-1609, Rome)

Museum Inventory Number:

23

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

h: 180 cm; w: 130 cm

Provenance:

Borghese Collection

Type of object:

Painting

Place of production:

Rome

Description:

The painting is first mentioned as being part of the Scipione Borghese Collection in 1650, but no details of the date of its commission have survived. The date given (1590–1595) relates to the period in which Annibale, one of the founders of the Accademia degli Incamminati, was active in Bologna working on the decoration of the Palazzo Fava. It is possible that the naked figure of Samson is a draft, possibly a trial-run for one of the many monochrome nudes, often used as telamons, in the fresco decoration of noble Bolognese residences. Annibale continued his decorative work in Rome, where he worked on the famous Galleria di Palazzo Farnese. It was here, abandoned by his family, that he suffered from the depression that eventually killed him.
The subject covers the biblical passage in the Old Testament (Judges 15, 12) in which Samson, imprisoned by Judas' men and about to be taken by the Philistines, is about to fulfil the Will of God. Invested with the Holy Spirit, he manages to free himself from his ropes and uses the jawbone of an ass to kill more than 1000 men. The painting does not show the action, but depicts the splendid, monumental muscular figure emerging from a dark background. We cannot even see his face, which thanks to its foreshortened position is hidden by shadow. All our attention is focused on the figure of the hero: the bent leg and the hands behind his back demonstrate the careful anatomical study undertaken by one of the greatest Baroque painters of the early 17th century.

This work was probably painted in Bologna, a year before Annibale moved to Rome. It is actually more advanced than the decorations of Fava Palace in Bologna (the monochrome gods and frieze) and is closer to the classical forms of Palazzo Farnese. This painting is an example of the Carracci Academy.

How Object was obtained:

The Borghese Collection was acquired by the Italian State in 1902.

Selected bibliography:

Della Pergola, P., Galleria Borghese. I Dipinti, I, Rome, 1955, n.17, pp. 20–21.
Poster, D., Annibale Carracci. A study in the reform of Italian Painting around 1590, 2 vols, London, 1971, I, cat. 83, p. 34.
Coliva, A., Galleria Borghese, Rome, 1994, p. 191.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright image: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.

Citation of this web page:

Sofia Barchiesi "Samson Imprisoned" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;it;Mus11;35;en

Prepared by: Sofia BarchiesiSofia Barchiesi

SURNAME: Barchiesi
NAME: Sofia

TITLE: Author and Researcher

CV:
Sofia Barchiesi, a graduate and specialist in Art History and recipient of a scholarship from the School of Mediaeval and Modern Art History at Lumsa University, has been working with the Superintendency for Historical Artistic Heritage and the Museums of Rome since the late 1980s. She was responsible for cataloguing the art of the region and museums of Rome, studying the period of the Counter-Reformation particularly closely. She works with journals and writes essays, alternating her research and teaching work.
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: IT1 49