What ever happened to Samson and Delilah ?
... a real detective-story for artlovers ...
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           Rockox, mayor of Antwerp, called one of his important rooms the "Groot Saleth". 
           In fact it was a private museum, where his rich collections of paintings, sculptures, coins,
           books... were kept and could be admired by visitors.

           In 1609 Rubens was asked, by his friend and protector Rockox, to make a painting to be
           placed above this very chimney-piece in this room. 

                                      It was the "Samson and Delilah", the painting
                               that now is cause to continuous discussion.
 
            On a painting by the ANTWERP BAROQUE master Frans II Francken, specialised
            in representing such rich interiors, visitors of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich get an idea
            of how that "Groot Saleth" of the Rockox' House looked like;
            a chimney and the SAMSON AND DELILAH scene above it are an eye-catcher in the
            middle of the wall in front:

            Wow! ... before we go on, I have to draw your attention to a remarkable 'detail':

            - Fragment of the so-called original Rubens, property of the National Gallery, London.
            - Detail of the 'whitness'-painting by Frans II Francken, to be seen in the Alte Pinakothek,
               Munich.

           I enlarged the Frans Francken painting and connected both women's  right eye with a line,
           in order to mark their position one to the other.
           See the BIG DIFFERENCE in angle? He was not what  may be called such a good
           painter, this Francken ... or was he ???
 

Do you want to return to the full graphics version now?

          Rockox' possessions were sold publically after he died in 1640 (the same year that Rubens
          died in!). It's not known who bought the 'Samson and Delilah' at the occasion of this 'sort of
          auction'.

            'A' Samson and Delilah 'soon' (i.e. about 1700) embellished the rich collection of the
        Princes of Liechtenstein in their Vienna palace. But this painting was always, by this family,
       considered to be a 'Jan van Haecke' (one of Rubens' many pupils at his Antwerp workshop).
         ... Well, this is strange: why would this royal family believe they had a Jan van Haecke,
        when they could have believed they were in the possession of a 'real' Rubens??? It may mean
       that the painting was sold to them as a Rubens' copy, made by Jan van Haecke ... or were
       people at the time totally unaware of the existence of the Rubens' version?  Fairly unlikely.
 

                                    ... there's another argument for this conception ...
 
 
            Have a look at this engraving: It was made in 1613 by a certain Jacob Matham,
            after    - either the original Rubens painting
                       - or after a study Rubens made before painting (though it's very detailed)

        Besides, it is mirrored to the Rubens' painting ... this can be explained: as it's an
        engraving, Jacob Matham did not take trouble to mirror Rubens' work, as normally
        engravers would do.
        Well, let's mirror it ourselves and have a look at an interestingly different detail (different
        to the so called Rubens' painting):

    On the engraving that Jacob Matham made after Rubens (left), only three Philistine soldiers
   are waiting at the door to capture Samson (after he would loose his strength by shortening
     his hair),.....while..... on the (believed) Rubens painting their number is five! One of them is
not even wearing a helmet... some critics assume this is the portrait of the real painter!
 
          So, the Samson-painting with the 5 Philistines remains in the hands of the Liechtenstein
          princes, till 1881, when Prince John II of Liechtenstein sells his 'Jan van Hoecke' ... 
          Whom to, one doesn't know ...

          In 1929, the painting (the same?) re-appears on the art market of Paris, where it is claimed
          to be made by Rubens' hand, and sold to a German tobacco-dealer. It remained in private
          possession until...

       ... in the year 1980, the National Gallery of London bought it at Christies
for about 5 million US-dollars. The museum called it a moment of great excitement:

"That painting, with which Rubens had dazzled Antwerp
on his return from Italy, adds a significant new dimension
to the representation of the great flemish artist at Trafalgar Square !"

                    Being real, it would be worth about 85 million dollars now (1997);
                    (not being so, perhaps one tenth of this value...)
 
            After they bought the 'SAMSON AND DELILAH' at the time, the National Gallery sent
            specialists to Antwerp in order to make an exact copy of the still existing chimney in
            Rockox' House. It's above that copy that the painting can be admired in the Gallery.

             If it's really a (excellent) copy, then
             WHAT HAPPENED to the ORIGINAL, once owned by ROCKOX ???
             Probably discussions and investigations on that serious matter will go on for a while.

             Click this link for a  German article about the matter.
              Planning a VISIT  to Antwerp ?
              Do you want to be guided and get a lot of explanation ?
              Then contact this email-address.

              Return to the Quick Links Page here.
 

 
                                                                               ..... TO BE CONTINUED ...
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