1657 (ca.), Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Samson and the Honeycomb -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label: Guercino kept records of the commissions he received. According to his ledger, he was paid the hefty sum of 44 doubloons for this painting on February 21, 1658. The work's Old Testament subject is derived from the Book of Judges 13-16, which tells the story of Samson. Guercino chose a relatively benign moment from the otherwise dramatic narrative, when Samson offers his parents pieces of a honeycomb that he found in the carcass of a lion he had slain.
1657 (ca.), Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Samson and the Honeycomb -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label: Guercino kept records of the commissions he received. According to his ledger, he was paid the hefty sum of 44 doubloons for this painting on February 21, 1658. The work's Old Testament subject is derived from the Book of Judges 13-16, which tells the story of Samson. Guercino chose a relatively benign moment from the otherwise dramatic narrative, when Samson offers his parents pieces of a honeycomb that he found in the carcass of a lion he had slain.