Samson rending the lion

Details

Bartsch 2; Meder 107 c (from g); Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 127 c (from g).

Description

Good, effective, deep black print, which can be dated to around 1580 due to the watermark. The gaps in the outline of the mountain, in the lion’s tail and in the stone in the bottom right are clearly visible. With the gap in the monogram and the wormhole in the waistband as requested for a C state. Cut to the wide margin, partially with a finer margin around it. “Samson Killing the Lion” is now considered one of the most important single-sheet woodcuts from the first years after Albrecht Dürer’s intitial trip to Italy from 1494 to 1495 and is the counterpart to “Ercules” (S/M/S 105), which was created around the same time. The scene is derived from the Old Testament (Judges 14:5-6); Samson was attacked by a lion whilst on the way to find a bride in Timnah, but the Spirit of God came upon him and he tore open the jaws of the defeated beast with his bare hands. The hero Samson, who was later to free the Israelites from the rule of the Philistines, was considered in medieval typology to be a prefiguration of Christ in his role as victor over Satan. Dürer shows Samson in a historical costume and sets the event in a mythical landscape. The shirt with wide, fluttering sleeves, over a sleeveless jacket with a precious metal clasp, is reminiscent of the fashion of the early 15th century. – Small, carefully closed tears at the edges. The upper left corner backed and with a faint ink stain. Horizontal hanging creases, not visible recto, very well preserved for the size of the sheet.