In His Biblical Scenes, the 17th-Century Dutch Painter Jan Steen Rivals Rembrandt Himself

In a dimly-lit palace, an entourage of some 50 figures surrounds the biblical Samson, his hands shackled behind his back but his vision still intact. An African clad in Oriental garb and holding a dagger in his right hand points with his left to his eyes, in a gruesome foreshadowing of the hero’s blinding. The hair clippings at Samson’s feet testify to the dwindling of his Herculean strength; dwarves pull at the ropes tied to his feet.

And that’s only half the drama in The Mocking of Samson by the Dutch painter Jan Steen (1626-79). Across the room, Samson’s Philistine lover Delilah, completing his humiliation, reaches for the pile of money that is her gain for betraying him. Unabashed, she permits a leering man to grope her as she gazes directly at Samson, his teeth clenched and his face an agonized study in bright red. No world-weary stoic, the Israelite strongman may already be planning to topple the building. A dog, symbolic of fidelity, and fully aware of the injustice, looks up at Samson and barks.

The genius of this painting—newly acknowledged as an original Steen after having been previously attributed to an 18th-century copyist—lies in the poetic license it takes with the biblical account. As Judges 13-16 tells the story, the Philistines first trim seven locks of Samson’s hair and then blind the now-diminished hero before transporting him to a jail in Azah (Gaza) and binding him in heavy chains. As they trot out their trophy during a celebration of the god Dagon, Samson asks the boy guiding him (perhaps inspiring Steen’s dwarves) to leave him at two load-bearing columns. The building is packed with partying Philistines, with some 3,000 on the roof alone. In a grand act of wholesale murder and suicide, Samson buries the lot.