Samson with the Jawbone

Holding the jawbone of an ass as his attribute, Samson looks upward, perhaps to God: the great strongman slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone (Judges 15) and, overcome by thirst, drank from the rock at Lechi — a name that means “jawbone” in Hebrew, which led some Dutch artists to show the water issuing from the jawbone itself. Salomon de Bray used a clear light, a plain background, and a half-length composition, showing his awareness of the artistic conventions of the Utrecht Caravaggisti. The painting shares its size, medium, and composition with the Getty’s own David with His Sword; the two were probably intended as pendants or companions in a series of Old Testament heroes. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.