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Samson Bringing Honey to His Parents
- Religion
- Old Testament
- Lion
- Samson
- Bees
- Blue
- White
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- Baroque
- Cento, Italy
"Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition," Provincetown, Massachusetts,1958.
"Bolognese Baroque Painters," Finch College Museum of Art, New York City, 1962.
"1550-1650, A Century of Masters from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Fort Worth Art Center, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, and University of Texas, Austin, Sept. 7, 1962 - March 31, 1963.
"Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Dec. 2, 1967 - May 15, 1968.
"Il Guercino," Bologna, 1968.
"Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977.
"Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exh. cat. no. 3).
"Giovanni Francesco Barbieri: Il Guercino, 1591-1666", Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna, Italy, September 6 - November 19, 1991; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany, December 3, 1991 - February 9, 1992; National Galelry of Art, Washington, D.C., March 15 - May 17, 1992.
"Guercino," Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, October 13, 2006 - January 7, 2007.
Italian, 1591–1666
Samson Bringing Honey to His Parents, ca. 1625–26
Oil on canvas
Made strong by God, Samson has killed a lion with his bare hands (an event depicted in tiny figures at the lower center). Returning later, he discovered that bees had filled the lion’s carcass with honey. Here, Samson offers honeycombs to his parents.
The story demonstrates God’s power and ability to work through chosen mortals. It also shows the growing importance of artistic patrons. The three bees hovering near the stone wall at the top of the canvas reference the coat of arms of the powerful Barberini family who commissioned the work for their Roman palace.
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in honor of the Board of Trustees, 1977–1985 71.521
Italian, 1591-1666
Samson Bringing Honey to His Parents, ca. 1625-26
Oil on canvas, 39¾" x 59" (101 x 149.9cm)
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in Honor of the Board of Trustees 1977-1985, 71.521
References: _Il Guercino_, exhibition catalog, Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, 1968, no. 59; Zafran, _CM_, 1977, no. 8; _Il Guercino (1591-1666)_, exhibition catalog, Pinocoteca Nazionale, Bologna; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991-1992.
Nicknamed "Il Guercino" because of his squint-eyed expression, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri developed a vital, dramatically lighted Baroque style during his early years in Bologna, where the art of Ludovico Carracci impressed him greatly (see also no. 23). In 1621 he went to Rome at the behest of Pope Gregory XV. There he painted his famous _Aurora_ fresco on the ceiling of the Casion Ludovisi; the work was a precocious foretaste of virtuoso High Baroque illusionism and Guercino's fullest expression of Baroque painterly flash. Upon Gregory's death in 1623, the artist returned to his native village of Cento. There, and after 1642 in Bologna, he gradually retreated from his exuberant Baroque manner and moved toward a restrained late style inspired by Guido Reni (no. 18).
A major decorator who completed his share of monumental altarpieces and mural programs, Guercino also throughout his career produced more modest-sized canvases of half-length design. A prime example of these dramatically compressive compositions is _Samson Bringing Honey to His Parents_. The style of the undated painting and its quiescent tone suggest that it was made in Cento around 1625-26. By then the artist had begun the transition to a more decorous and reserved manner, though he had not yet abandoned the smoldering colors and velvety, form-dissolving _chiaroscuro_ of his early art.
As related in the book of Judges (14:5-9), the Old Testament hero Samson killed a lion with his bare hands, an event that takes place in the painting's background (below Samson's left hand). Discovering later that bees had filled the lion's carcass with honey, Samson returned home with some of it as an offering to his parents. While appropriate to the story, the trio of bees at the upper edge of the canvas also cleverly alludes to the painting's commissioners, the Barberini family, whose coat of arms featured three bees.
With the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini as Pope Urban VIII in 1623, the Barberini became Rome's leading arts patrons. Soon after, a member of this illustrious family - possibly Urban VIII himself - ordered The Chrysler Museum painting from Guercino. The picture must have been well liked, for a copy (without the three bees) was produced by one of Guercino's assistants. That work was included in the Borghese collection by 1650 and hangs today in the Gallery Borghese, Rome.
The Chrysler painting remained in the Barberini's possession until 1764, when Francis, Marquess of Tavistock purchased it for his Bloomsbury residence in London. From him it passed into the collection of the dukes of Bedford at Woburn Abbey.
American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, No. 22, 30; Color ill. 30.