Samson and Delilah

Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw

A. Ligny engraved this plate, signing it at the bottom right. It is among the most reprinted of Doré’s designs for the 1866 Bible, a large and lavish book in which every picture filled a whole page.

Samson sits on a carved bench, touching his long hair with one hand as he talks. Delilah stands beside him in a white turban and embroidered robe, looking down, her hands folded. Light from a tall window falls across the patterned walls and pillars of a rich room.

From the text

She “pressed him daily with her words” (Judges 16:16)

“My hair has never been cut” (Judges 16:17)

“I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb” (Judges 16:17)

The artist’s own

Samson with an earring and a headband

Walls, columns and window covered in Moorish-looking ornament

Delilah calm and silent, as if she has heard what she wanted

Details

Samson

Bearded and muscular, he sits on the bench and tells his secret.

The hair

He holds up a long lock of his uncut hair.

Delilah

She stands in a white turban and an embroidered robe, eyes lowered.

The window

Daylight comes through a tall window with carved columns.

Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 1, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1873 (acc. 75.267 A), tabl. 63 · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.

The verses

Judg 16:15–17“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!” Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death, Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”