Travis Vocino Experiments in Art, Science & Technology.

The Blinding of Samson, 1636

This is Rembrandt’s most violent painting and, at the same time, one of his largest canvases. In addition to the blinding of Samson, Rembrandt shows the triumph of Delilah, who revealed the secret of her lover’s superhuman strength to the Philistines. Rembrandt’s original idea — to portray Samson at the moment of the attack, falling backward toward the observer from a brightly lit space to a darkened one — may be one of the reasons for the 30-year-old artist’s rise to fame in Amsterdam. The powerful movement of the figures as well as the painting’s format indicate an artistic debate with the work of Rubens, Rembrandt’s only competitor during this period. Here he already exceeds Rubens in the extreme effects of light and shadow, the almost unbearable drama of the act, and his attention to the emotional state of his subjects — as illustrated by the expression on Delilah’s face.

(Oil on canvas, 205 x 272 cm)