Samson en Delila 1669 - 1722

Curator: Welcome. Here we have a drawing by Adriaen van der Werff, titled "Samson en Delila," created sometime between 1669 and 1722. It's a delicate pencil sketch currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by the tension between the seeming casualness of the medium – pencil – and the high drama of the scene. The composition, the gaze of Delilah, the limpness of Samson, all point to a fraught emotional state. Curator: Absolutely. Van der Werff was very attuned to the commercial market and portrait work of the elite dominated his oeuvre, and considering its subject matter, it raises the question about the economics around images depicting female power and male vulnerability. How does the medium, pencil—cheap and easy to get ahold of and perhaps less regarded than oil—figure into this history? Editor: Note the deliberate contrast between the sharply defined figure of Delilah, her form solid and commanding, and the softly rendered Samson. The way light falls across Delilah’s skin creates depth, reinforcing the three-dimensionality and monumental qualities, especially for a work of this scale on paper. Curator: What is particularly interesting, the drawing also presents a gendered commentary by subverting the usual historical presentation. Here is Delilah fully cognizant and presented in such an elevated state. The viewer's gaze cannot help but find Delilah even with Samson laid out more prominently in the drawing's plane. Editor: You point out the economic considerations, and in those terms the linear, almost skeletal nature of the figures adds to a kind of Baroque ideal in both its religious implications but also an understanding of antiquity that feels incredibly present within these types of scenes. The classical, in essence. Even Delilah's coiled hairstyle reminds me of contemporaneous Greek sculptures, even in this pencil sketch. Curator: But the interesting contradiction emerges as the paper itself serves as an implicit element to that tension, not allowing the grandeur of the other, classical, examples to truly take root, which complicates that visual reading even further. Editor: Indeed, this pencil sketch by van der Werff gives us insight into the story and social conditions of labor and consumption in the visual arts.