Women play a crucial role in the story of Samson as told in Judges 13:1-16:31. From the reptition of the statement that Samson "judged Israel twenty years" both before and after he gives in to Delilah, it seems clear that Samson's desire for Philistine women becomes the means by which God uses him to begin to humble the Philistines: if the blind Samson can slay more Philistines than he could when he still could see, shouldn't blind Israel be able to do as much if it, like Samson, calls upon God for help? Individual prints are likely to focus on the incident with the angel or on individual scenes from Samson's history; cycles can explore the story at more leisure. Click for biblical texts.

Select Bibliography: W. Th. Kloek et al, Northern Netherlandish Art 1525-1580: Art Before the Iconoclasm (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1986); H. Diane Russell, Eva / Ave: Women in Renaissance and Baroque Prints (Washington DC: The National Gallery of Art, 1990); Ellen Schultz, ed. Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg 13000-1550 (NY: Metroplitan Museum of Art, 1986).