A Descriptive Catalogue of Early Prints in the British Museum. German and Flemish Schools

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883. Excerpt: ... DIVISION G. ORDINARY ENGRAVINGS. G 1. Samson and Delilah--Lower Germany, 15th Century. In this design three actions are represented, viz.: Samson rending the young lion; Delilah cutting off Samson's hair; Samson pulling away a pillar of the building in order to slay the Philistines. The prominent action is that of Delilah cutting off Samson's hair. She sits on our left hand upon a grassy bank enclosed within a low wall. Samson as a young man lies at her feet asleep, with his hand on Delilah's right knee. The latter places her left arm around his neck, and with shears in her right hand proceeds to cut short Samson's hair. Delilah is draped in a full loose tunic, somewhat close-fitting about the neck. On her head is a small, close fitting-cap adorned with pearls or jewels. A necklace is present, and on the ornamental collar of the tunic is the word Dalila in Roman letters. Samson has on a short tunic, tight hose, and pointed shoes. His feet nearly touch the lower right-hand corner of the print. He has a scarf around the waist, the ends of which extend along the wall on the right, which encloses the bank on which Delilah is sitting. Above, on the right-hand side, Samson is opening the jaws of the lion, about to rend him as he would have rent a kid (Judges xiv. 6). The head of the lion is more human than animal in character, while on the head of Samson is a very peculiar cap. His mantle flutters away on the right among the rocks. On the extreme left, and above Delilah, Samson is about to pull away the pillar of a building, which latter it supports. The hair of his head has grown again. Three long-waved scrolls run over the general surface of the print. On the scroll above Delilah and the recumbent Samson are the words: quod dalila fecit sapsone dormire gfm...