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Triumph over Evil: Samson Rending the Lion | Pluto and Cerberus
Also titled Triomf over het kwaad: Simson verscheurt de leeuw | Pluto en Cerberus
Maarten van Heemskerck (Heemskerk, 1498–1574)
c. 1555
- Medium
- panel, oil paint (paint)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- height 46.8 cm x width 15.1 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- Gift of B.P. Haboldt, in memory of Peter and Kitty Haboldt-Mutters
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
About this work
The young, beardless Samson ripped a ferocious lion apart with just his bare hands. In Heemskerck’s time, this story was regarded as the forerunner (prefiguration) of Christ’s victory over the devil. Pluto, recognizable by his three-headed dog Cerberus, was the guardian of the underworld in classical mythology. In the 16th century he was also identified with the devil from Christianity.
