Jan Steen, Samson Insulted by the Philistines

by Atelier Liesjes

Beneath a heavy orange-red canopy that hangs like a curtain over the upper corners of the hall, a boisterous scene is unfolding. On the left, a woman in a shimmering light-blue satin gown sits on a raised bench, her neck and shoulders bare, her arm outstretched. At a table beside her, men in dark clothing are playing dice; an old woman wearing a white bonnet is leaning over the tabletop. On the right, on the stone floor, a man in a yellow-brown tunic is kneeling, his wrists bound with ropes. A small boy in blue is pulling on the rope, whilst a soldier with a halberd is holding him in check. Behind them, a crowd of soldiers with spears is gathering, and on the steps a trumpeter in a red-and-yellow jacket is blowing his instrument. In the foreground lie an overturned copper jug, a hat, a blue cloak and a club; a small black dog is running between people’s feet. The colours are warm and deep: ochre and burnt umber in the architecture, ivory white in the collars, carmine red in the cloth, and the cool blue of the gown as a counterpoint. The light falls from the top left, casting a sheen on the silk and brass, whilst the shadows beneath the arches fade to near black. The composition is that of seventeenth-century history painting: a biblical tale of betrayal and humiliation, depicted as an exuberant gathering in which no one shows any pity. The Baroque composition, with its diagonal movement and crowded groups of figures, transforms the mockery into an almost festive scene – that blend of seriousness and exuberance so characteristic of Jan Steen. Jan Havicksz. Steen (Leiden 1626 – Leiden 1679) was one of the most narrative painters of seventeenth-century Holland. In addition to genre pieces and tavern scenes, he painted biblical and mythological subjects, often with the same vitality.