The Blinding of Samson

The Blinding of Samson is a 1636 painting by Rembrandt, now in the Städel. The painting is the first of its kind in pictorial tradition. No other artist at the time had painted this specific narrative moment.

The Blinding of Samson
Artist	Rembrandt
Year	1636
Medium	Oil on canvas
Location	Städel, Frankfurt am Main

This painting was a gift to the House of Orange, Rembrandt's current patron of a few commissioned paintings, via its secretary Constantijn Huygens, as an excuse for the delay of the commissioned Passion paintings. Later it was acquired by Friedrich Karl von Schönborn and remained in the Palais Schönborn-Batthyány in Vienna until it was acquired by the Städel in 1905.