03 — ARTWORK
Samson Killing the Lion
- MEDIUM
- Woodcut, 374 x 276 mm
- TYPE
- Mythological
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 722 × 981 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Upon returning from his 1495 trip to Italy, Dürer produced large woodcuts of unprecedented complexity culminating in his Samson and the Lion and his apocalypsethe Revelation of St John, the last book of the New Testament. The wrath of God descending upon the earth is depicted in three visions; in the form of terrible natural catastrophes, in the battle between the forces and good and evil, and in the union of a new Heaven and new Earth in the Heavenly Jerusalem. The announcement of the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world was intended to console the persecuted Christians and also prepare them for the horrors connected with the event. series.
Samson, depicted as superhuman, fights a lion. The beast's death is imminent as the Old Testament hero plants his right leg on the lion's neck and prepares to rip its jaws apart. The animal's natural ferocity is surpassed by Samson's own wild expression and the agitation of his hair and clothing. Dürer's lines describe far more than contoura line around a shape in a work of art, its nature depending on the artist's concept and intention. In medieval painting, contours were initially regular, flat outlines; in the course of the 14th century they acquired more sense of spatial effect, and appear to be alternately more and less emphatic. Later, the effect of contour in painting and graphic art became particularly important to artistic movements in which line and draughtsmanship was a prominent factor. and shading; he ably mimicked different textures and materials. The lion, other than its tail, is rendered by a myriad of short lines, not just a simple outline, to suggest its brushy fur. Longer, flame-like lines are used for its mane. Samson's muscular body, the softer fabric of his clothing and the landscape details are all handled differently. His left leg exhibits a strong contour or outline; long, slightly curving lines define the muscles of the lower leg; and small concentric strokes capture the rounded swelling of the thigh muscles. Alternating bands of light and dark, especially evident in the hillside on the right, create a convincing atmospheric perspectiveThe method of representing three-dimensional objects on a flat surface. Perspective gives a picture a sense of depth. The most important form of perspective in the Renaissance was linear perspective (first formulated by the architect Brunelleschi in the early 15th century), in which the real or suggested lines of objects converge on a vanishing point on the horizon, often in the middle of the composition (centralized perspective). The first artist to make a systematic use of linear perspective was Masaccio, and its principles were set out by the architect Alberti in a book published in 1436. The use of linear perspective had a profound effect on the development of Western art and remained unchallenged until the 20th century.. The distant mountains are made using a few simple, overlapping lines, yet these are sufficient to imply their presence. The artist added a few birds above Samson's head to define the middle ground and facilitate the transition through space. Remarkable gradations from deep blacks to intense whites are apparent in the lion's head. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 12 minutes):<BR><A HREF="#" onClick="w=window.open ('/music1/18_cent/handel_samson.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350');w.opener=this;w.focus();return true"><B>George Frideric Handel: Samson, Part 1 Sinfonia, recitative and chorus</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE>
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r00e529923535b8,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Samson Killing the Lion by DÜRER, Albrecht},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/drer-albrecht-r9b10ff91cb62c2/samson-killing-the-lion-r00e529923535b8},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
