Samson Destroying the Temple

Entry

This painting and three others in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (SK-A-3512, SK-A-3513 and SK-A-3514) belong to a set of twelve small grisaille panels, four of which are currently in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, with a further two in the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, and two more which used to be in the Wetzlar Collection in Amsterdam.¹¹ The complete set consists of three categories: four panels depict ancient Greek gods: Saturn (fig. a), Pluto (fig. b), Neptune (SK-A-3514) and Jupiter (fig. c). Four panels show episodes from the life of Hercules: Hercules Slaying the Hydra (fig. d), Hercules and Antaeus (fig. e), Hercules Destroying the Centaur Nessus (SK-A-3513) and Hercules Carrying the Column of Heaven (fig. f). The remaining four depict scenes from the life of Samson: Samson Rending the Lion (SK-A-3512), Samson Conquering the Philistines (fig. g), Samson Carrying the Gate of Gaza (fig. h) and Samson Destroying the Temple (SK-A-3511).

Until the twelve panels were auctioned at Christie’s in London in 1946 as the Twelve Labours of Hercules by Martin van Heemskerck, the complete series was in the collection of Lord Kinnaird at Rossie Priory in Scotland. In 2007, the two paintings formerly in the Wetzlar collection were thoroughly examined with the four from the Rijksmuseum.¹² In 2008, photographs of the fronts and backs of the two panels in Oberlin were kindly provided by the Allen Memorial Art Museum.¹³ In 2008, regular, ultraviolet and X-ray photographs of the fronts and backs of the four panels in New Haven were kindly provided by the Yale University Art Gallery.¹⁴ Dendrochronological data were collected for all twelve panels.¹⁵

Samson Destroying the Temple (SK-A-3511) depicts Samson’s last deed when, blinded and held prisoner by the Philistines, he used his last powers to destroy the Temple, killing the Philistines and himself (Judges 16:28-31). According to the story, Samson stood between two pillars and pushed them apart, something Heemskerck adhered to in his design for an engraving executed by Philips Galle.¹⁶ Probably due to the vertical format of the Rijksmuseum panel, Heemskerck depicted Samson with both hands around one pillar and included one desperate face on the left, so as to leave no doubt about the subject matter. Samson Rending the Lion (SK-A-3512) depicts Samson’s first deed (Judges 14:5-7): the young Samson encountered an aggressive lion on his way to his Philistine bride and tore the beast apart with his bare hands. Heemskerck indeed painted Samson as a young man: of the four panels devoted to him, this is the only one in which he is beardless. In the background Heemskerck, following the tale, included Samson’s oblivious parents. In Hercules Destroying the Centaur Nessus (SK-A-3513) Heemskerck depicted Hercules killing Nessus with his club. Whereas the story relates that the hero shot his poisoned arrow from the shore, many examples exist in the pictorial tradition of Hercules attacking the beast with his club. Heemskerck probably opted to show Hercules clubbing the centaur because this would better suit the vertical format of the panel. In Neptune with a Seahorse (SK-A-3514) he painted the ancient Greek god of the sea standing over a seahorse. In his right hand Neptune is holding a trident, his traditional attribute.

The format, number and monumental treatment of the subject matter of the twelve panels are reminiscent of ancient Hercules sarcophagi, especially the famous sarcophagus from the 3rd century AD with the twelve labours of Hercules in the Palazzo Torlonia.¹⁷ The Torlonia sarcophagus, which stood in the house of Cardinal Savelli in Rome in the 16th century, is known to have been sketched by many artists, and was probably seen by Heemskerck as well.¹⁸ The monochrome grisaille technique Heemskerck used was without doubt meant to create the illusion of three-dimensional statues. Interestingly, of the four Hercules panels in Heemskerck’s series, only one, Hercules Slaying the Hydra (fig. d) depicts one of the twelve labours. For some of the subject matter then, as Harrison pointed out, Heemskerck might have studied contemporary Italian prints, especially the 1526 engravings of Deities in Niches by Jacobo Caraglio after Rosso Fiorentino.¹⁹ Indeed, as regards Heemskerck’s choice of attributes, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto generally bear similarities to this series.²⁰ More specifically, the composition of Rosso’s Saturn, and the way in which his Jupiter is riding on his eagle, are particularly close to Heemskerck’s corresponding gods.

This series is a rare example in the visual arts of a combination of ancient Greek gods and episodes from the lives of Hercules and Samson. During the 16th century, artists are known to have linked the ancient gods with Hercules, as well as Hercules with Samson, but not all three.²¹ As for the subject matter, Heemskerck interestingly did not opt for the obvious similarities between Hercules and Samson, namely their heroic victory over a savage lion and their fall due to a woman’s interference. This together with the inclusion of the four gods suggests that Heemskerck was working on a very specific iconographic scheme. It would seem that by choosing these particular episodes he was not only portraying the legendary strength of his mortal characters but also the inevitability of their deaths. Indeed, it was the Hydra’s poison, through Nessus’s subterfuge, that caused Hercules’s death. And it was the riddle connected to the lion’s corpse that prompted Samson’s first attack on the Philistines, who would eventually defeat him. At the same time Heemskerck seems to have been touching upon a theme regarding the awarding and suspension of kingship, which runs through the lives of all the characters in the series. After all, Saturn’s kingship was wrested from him by his son Zeus, who therefore prevented his brothers Neptune and Pluto from ever having it. Hercules lost his right to kingship to Eurystheus, and Samson missed out on his by having been born in the time of Judges instead of Kings. It still remains unclear, however, exactly how these panels relate to each other.

Until now, two attempts have been made to reconstruct the original order of the twelve panels, though in both cases any larger narrative connecting all the depicted gods and heroes was disregarded. In a 1950 letter to Chester Trip, Erwin Panofsky tentatively suggested a possible scheme based on the four elements fire (Pluto), water (Neptune), air (Jupiter) and earth (Saturn). Basing himself on certain obvious similarities between the actions of Samson and Hercules, he created four groups, each with a god, a Hercules and a Samson.²² In 1980, Grosshans rearranged the twelve paintings slightly, keeping the same god-Hercules couples as Panofsky but changing the order of the Samsons on the basis of some narrative and visual resemblances between the depictions of the Samsons and the Hercules.²³

Considering that the series contains three categories and that the sizes of the paintings allow for three panels to form exactly one square, it does indeed seem likely that the paintings were originally arranged in four groups of three. As for the order of the paintings within those groups, the photographs that were taken for the 1946 auction seem to be significant. The paintings were sold as four sets of three and were photographed as such (fig. i), (fig. j), (fig. k), (fig. l)). Each set contained a god, a Hercules and a Samson, in a different order from that suggested by both Panofsky and Grosshans. The individual panels are not framed in the photographs, and the three panels in each set seem to be held together by a thin ledge. That this is not the original framing is indicated by the unpainted edges visible in the photographs of the twelve paintings. However, considering their careful grouping (one of each category) at a time when the paintings were known as the Twelve Works of Hercules, and bearing in mind that the panels were offered for sale in this manner, it seems likely that the panels were in, and possibly entered, the Kinnaird Collection in these four groups. This is also suggested by the results of technical research. Traces of bone glue were found on the backs of the six panels examined in 2007, and the wood is discoloured along some of the edges. This is also the case with the other six paintings, as can be seen in the photographs of the American panels. When the backs of the panels are grouped in the order of the four sets in the 1946 photographs, the glue traces and the discolouration of the wood create a distinct pattern, most likely the traces of an earlier framing. It is not known from which time the glue traces originate and thus at which point the panels were grouped together in this way, but it is possible that Heemskerck himself intended these groupings. That, however, still does not provide us with any information about the order in which the four groups were meant to be placed.²⁴ It is also important to note the possibility that the twelve works could have been part of some sort of larger iconographic scheme.

It is not clear what the original function of these panels was, but various suggestions have been put forward: a predella or the reverse of a large painting,²⁵ the panelling of a scholar’s study or library,²⁶ or the decoration of a cabinet or some other piece of furniture.²⁷ This last option seems plausible. As Harrison recalled in this context, Heemskerck painted a ‘Sol’ and a ‘Luna’ on a bed early in his career,²⁸ and it is possible that he received more commissions to adorn furniture later on. Also, if we remember the panels’ resemblance to ancient sarcophagi reliefs, it seems possible that they were painted to decorate a square or rectangular chest or cabinet.²⁹ In any case, considering the subject matter, it certainly seems likely that Heemskerck painted the series for a humanist patron.³⁰

The panels have traditionally been dated 1540-45. As Harrison already noted, the dynamic poses are indeed stylistically similar to Heemskerck’s work of that time, especially his 1538-42 St Lawrence Altarpiece, now in Linköping, Sweden.³¹ Dendrochronological analysis of all twelve paintings has, however, revealed that the planks came from four different trees,³² the youngest of which could have been ready for use at the very earliest in 1547.³³ This would suggest that Heemskerck painted the series slightly later, possibly in the early 1550s.

(Ilona van Tuinen)