| Method | Woodcut |
| Artist | Albrecht Dürer |
| Published | c.1497-8 [after 1600 impression] |
| Dimensions | Image 386 x 278 mm, Sheet 522 x 348 mm |
| Notes |
One of Dürer's earliest large-scale woodcuts, depicting the Biblical hero Samson killing a lion with nothing but his bare hands. As the scene is untitled, early audiences frequently believed the scene to be a depiction of Hercules killing the Nemean lion, a feat that was also achieved solely by the hero's strength. Dürer's previous woodcut, enigmatically titled 'Ercules,' clearly shares parallels with his treatment of Samson, leading many to conclude that the two were intended as a pair, as Biblical and Classical representations of the same virtues. In the traditional story, Samson travelled to the cities of Philistia in order to seek a bride. While on route and in the wilderness he was attacked by a lion, but due to his great strength rent the creature's jaws apart, killing it. In Dürer's woodcut, Samson, dressed in robe, sandals, and with his famous unshaven locks tied up with a headband, straddles the writhing beast, his strong hands gripping the lion's muzzle. The lion's eyes, robbed of their savagery, look up in a manner that is cowed and almost pleading, while Samson, rather than looking at his quarry, stares off into the middle distance, as if the violence to come brings him no pleasure, despite being the product of his God-given gifts. To the left of the scene, a large weed is clearly a nettle, the painful sting of which can be avoided only by crushing the leaves with a strong grip. The background of the scene, vaguely intended to represent the cities of the Philistines, features a castle on a rocky cliff, a collection of fortified towers on a wide bay or lake, a woodland, and a range of mountains. Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528) was a celebrated German polymath. Though primarily a painter, printmaker and graphic artist, he was also a writer, mathematician and theoretician. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer was apprenticed to the painter Michel Wolgemut whose workshop produced woodcut illustrations for major books and publications. He travelled widely between the years of 1492 and 1494, and is known to have visited Martin Schongauer, the leading German painter and engraver at the time, at his studio in Colmar. In 1495, Dürer set up his own workshop in his native Nuremberg, and, by the beginning of the sixteenth-century, had already published three of his most famous series' of woodcuts: The Apocalypse, The Large Passion, and The Life of the Virgin. Nuremberg was something of a hub for Humanism at this time, and Dürer was privy to the teachings of Philipp Melanchthon, Willibald Pirkheimer and Desiderius Erasmus. The latter went so far as to call Dürer 'the Apelles of black lines', a reference to the most famous ancient Greek artist. Though Dürer's approach to Protestantism was not as staunch as that of his fraternity, his artwork was just as revolutionary. For their technical virtuosity, intellectual scope, and psychological depth, Dürer's works were unmatched by earlier printed work, and, arguably, have yet to be equalled. Hollstein 107, Meder 107, g (of g). Condition: Printed on laid paper. Minor foxing to sheet. Light waterstaining to top half of left margin, into block. Dirt build-up to sheet, particularly to edges. Pressed horizontal crease to sheet. Chips, creases, and folds to margins. Small puncture to top margin, not affecting image. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £2,000.00 |
| Stock ID | 51793 |