Dionys van Nijmegen was a multiskilled 18th century Dutch painter from Rotterdam of easel paintings, miniatures and wall hangings.

 

The story of Samson and Delilah is one of the great romantic stories from the bible. During many years Samson was able to beat off the Philistine threat. Delilah, the woman he madly loved, betrayed the source of his phenomenal physical strength to the enemy: his hair, that should never be cut.

 

 

Dutch painter

Rotterdam 1705 – 1798 Rotterdam 

 

Versatile painter of history paintings, portraits, genre scene, arcadian landscapes, miniatures and of ceiling and wallpaper paintings.

 

Pupil of his father Elias van Nijmegen (Nijmegen 1667 – 1755 Rotterdam), who also painted history subjects and ceiling and wall decorations, and of Jacob de Wit (Amsterdam 1695 – 1754 Amsterdam), who is best-known as an interior decorator for his grisaille overdoor and ceiling paintings.

 

Dionys married in 1733, the couple had two sons, Elias (1734 – 1801) and Gerard (1735 – 1808), who was a painter of Romantic landscapes.

 

Our Dionys joined the Rotterdam Painter’s Guild of Saint Luke in 1743.

 

In 1755, at his father’s death, Dionys took over his company of painted wall hangings. Dionys’ eldest son, Elias, assisted his father and continued the studio after his father’s death.

 

Dionys’ wife passed away in 1757. Dionys died 41 years after her at the age of 93. Johannes Immerzeel in the three volumes written in Dutch of “The Lives and Works of Dutch and Flemish Painters, Sculptors, Engravers and Architects from the start of the 15th until the middle of the 19th century” (1842 - 1843) states that our painter “had the rare privilege of still being in the unharmed possession of the sense of sight in his old age, so that, at the age of 90, he could still paint a portrait”.

 

 

The biblical subject of our painting is taken from the Ancient Testament. It describes a chaotic period in the history of the Israelites, when judges served as leaders. Samson was the last of these judges, he led Israel during twenty years. He possessed great physical strength. He fell in love with Delilah, who was bribed by the Philistines, who were ennemies of Israel, to find out what was the source of his power. He finally told her that if his hair was to be cut he would lose his super-power. 

Delilah betrayed him: Samson fell asleep on her lap and she had a servant shave off seven braids of his hair. Samson was emprisoned by the Philistines, who blinded him. They organised a feast to celebrate his capture in the temple of their main god, Dagon. Over 3.000 Philistines gattered on the roof. Samson prayed God to recover his strength for his ultimate heroic act: he pushed over two colums, the temple collapsed and all, including Samson (at his own demand), were killed. 

 

 

Because it is probably the best easel painting by Dionys van Nijmegen: without turning to Baroque drama or pathetic movements he has found a strongly convincing way of depicting this tragic love story. What a femme fatale.