Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

Title: Samson and Delilah
Creator: Mantegna, Andrea, painter
Description: This image has been made to resemble a cameo—an item that was collected in learned circles—and depicts Delilah cutting Samson’s hair as he sleeps beneath a grapevine. When he lost his hair Samson also lost his extraordinary strength and was captured by the Philistines. For this reason, Delilah was often used as a symbol of female treachery and also as a warning to men not to fall prey to “feminine wiles.”
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public domain
Subject (See Also): Deception Delilah (Biblical Figure) Samson (Biblical Figure)
Geographic Area: Italy
Century:
Date: ca. 1500
Related Work: Judith with the Head of Holofernes, a companion piece to Mantegna's Samson and Delilah:http://mini-site.louvre.fr/mantegna/images/section7/zoom/07_07.jpg
Current Location: London, National Gallery, NG1145
Original Location: Siena, Santa Maria della Scala
Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Paintings
Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Linen; Glue size
Donor:
Height/Width/Length(cm): 36.8 cm/47 cm/
Inscription: FOEMINA/DIABOLO TRIBUS/ASSIBUS EST/MALA PEIOR [“A woman is three times as bad as the devil.”]
Related Resources: