The Blinding of Samson, Rembrandt (1636)
What violence! What drama! The superhuman strength with which God endowed the Old Testament judge Samson resides in his uncut hair. His mistress, Delilah, a Philistine, has coaxed this secret from him. She shaves his head and calls her countrymen, who lose no time in pouncing on the hero thus robbed of his might. They tie him up and gouge out his eyes. Illuminated with a harsh beam of the kind cast by a spotlight, the ghastly scene has a stage-like quality. Delilah looks back at her victim with an expression of triumph, fascination and disgust.
