Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Signed (center right, on tree stump) with winged serpent
Gallery Label The Philistine Delilah cuts the hair of the Old Testament judge Samson thereby sapping him of his strength. The ass's jawbone, which Samson used to slay a thousand Philistines, uselessly lies nearby. In the courtly setting of Cranach's time, this subject had an allegorical meaning, warning men of the pitfalls of love, or women of the deception of men.
Notes Another version of this subject by Cranach, in the Staatsgalerie, Augsburg, is dated 1529 (Friedländer and Rosenberg 1932, no. 175; F-R 1978, no. 212). Friedländer and Rosenberg call a third version, in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, probably a product of Cranach's workshop (F-R 1932, no. 288e; F-R 1978, no. 357E).
Provenance Barrie Simmons (until 1961; sale, Sotheby's, London, June 14, 1961, no. 107, for £11,000 to Markham, bought in; sold for £10,000 to Kleinberger for Payson); Joan Whitney Payson, New York and Manhasset (1961–d. 1975)
Exhibition History Huntington, N.Y. Heckscher Museum. "A Tribute to Whitney Griswold from the Collections of Yale Alumni of Long Island," September 6–29, 1963, unnumbered cat.
References Dieter Koepplin and Tilman Falk. Lukas Cranach: Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik . Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. 2, Basel, 1976, p. 574, under no. 471.The Paintings of Lucas Cranach . rev. ed. Ithaca, N.Y., 1978, p. 111, no. 213, ill.in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Renaissance in the North . New York, 1987, pp. 15, 109, colorpl. 76.Die deutschen Gemälde des XVI. Jahrhunderts . Weimar, [1990?], p. 60, under no. 19.Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900 39 (Summer 1999), p. 519 n. 29.in Werner Schade et al. Lucas Cranach: Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne . Exh. cat., Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2003, pp. 147, 162 n. 23.Letter to The Metropolitan Museum of Art . April 27, 2006.
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