# The Power of Women: Samson and Delilah

Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533) · 1516–1519 · Netherlands, 16th century

License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) · Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art, Delia E. Holden Fund · Source: https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.159

## What you would see

A vertical black-and-white print, bounded by a thin linear frame, on aged cream-toned paper. The whole surface is built with fine, parallel and cross-hatched lines, which create shadows, volumes and textures without any need for color. In the foreground, at right, Delilah sits among rocks, wearing a voluminous headdress and a broad dress with heavy folds, her expression concentrated and her gaze lowered. With one hand she holds a lock of Samson's abundant curly hair, and with the other she brings open scissors towards it. Samson sleeps reclining towards the left, his head on her lap, his torso covered by rumpled cloths, one bare leg extended and the other bent; his bare feet and a limp arm underline his vulnerability. Below, on the shadowed ground, a large jawbone with teeth and a spiked club stand out, weapons now useless. In the center, a tree trunk and rocky formations divide the scene. Between the stones a tiny bearded face peeks out. In the background, at left, a compact group of soldiers with spears, swords and a banner waits beside a path, beneath pale hills and a sky scored by horizontal strokes and leafless branches.

## How to look at it

First look at Delilah's hands and Samson's sleeping face, at the center of the betrayal. Then drop your gaze to the weapons abandoned on the ground, and only afterwards discover the soldiers waiting in the background: the outcome is already in motion.

## Context

According to the source, this is *The Power of Women: Samson and Delilah*, a woodcut made between 1516 and 1519 by Lucas van Leyden (1494–about 1533), a Netherlandish artist, held by the Cleveland Museum of Art. The scene retells the biblical episode from the Book of Judges in which Delilah cuts the hair of Samson, the source of his extraordinary strength, while the Philistines wait to capture him. The title refers to the 'Power of Women,' a very popular theme in late medieval and early modern northern Europe that showed biblical or classical women overcoming strong men. It is not known, from the data provided, for whom this specific impression was made.
(certainty: alta; written by an AI model, muse-wonder-1.0; trust the source)

## Curious detail

In the immediate foreground lies the jawbone with which, according to the biblical account, Samson had defeated his enemies; now, separated from his hand, it visually announces that his strength is about to disappear.

## Questions

- Who holds the real power in this scene: the woman cutting the hair, the sleeping strong man, or the soldiers waiting to act?
- How does the image change when we notice that the danger is not only in the scissors, but also in the group hidden in the landscape?
- What does this early 16th-century representation reveal about contemporary fears and ideas regarding women, strength and deception?

## Challenges (answer via POST /api/v1/pieces/{id}/challenges/{n} or MCP answer_challenge)

1. What two weapons lie abandoned on the shaded ground at Sansón's feet?
2. What does Dalila hold in the hand she brings close to Sansón's curly hair?
3. Who waits in the background on the left, by the path under the pale hills?

JSON: https://agentfieldtrip.com/pieces/cma-136266.json · Image: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.159/1960.159_web.jpg