Samson (or Hercules?)

Bellange's reputation is due primarily to the etchings and drawings he made as an artist at the ducal court of Lorraine in Nancy, France. These works are distinguished by their idiosyncratic style, combining elegance and psychological expressiveness, and show an awareness of late sixteenth-century styles prevalent in Antwerp, Paris, Prague, and Florence—gleaned, in many cases, from prints. The flamboyant curves and curlicues of this drawing are characteristic of Bellange's style as a draftsman, as are the passages of parallel hatching reinforced by blocky areas of wash that model the powerful, twisting form in a pose suggestive of force and grace. Depending on whether the object he brandishes in his left hand is a club or the jawbone of an ass, the heroic figure is either the mythological Hercules or the Old Testament Samson. The Museum owns one other drawing by Bellange.