Samson and Delilah

mythological

This painting, presenting the three half-length Old Testament figures in a crowded composition, was painted by Jan Lievens in the second half of the 1620s when he was working in Leiden with Rembrandt. Their relationship can be characterized as a kind of artistic rivalry in which the two young artists were equal. They studied each other's work seeking inspiration for their own compositions.

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About the Artist

Jan Lievens

1607 – 1674

Jan Lievens (or Lievensz.), Dutch painter of portraits and religious, allegorical and genre subjects. He was a friend and contemporary of Rembrandt and a pupil of Lastman in Amsterdam. Then shared a studio with Rembrandt in Leiden in the later 1620s: many works of this period show one influencing the other. Lievens went to England, probably in 1632 after Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, but he was in Antwerp by 1635, where he was influenced by the courtly style of Van Dyck. He returned to Holland in 1639 and became a successful painter of portraits and allegories. Raising of Lazarus is a good example of his works.

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