Lot Essay
This Samson Destroying the Temple of the Philistines by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, likely executed during his tenure in Mantua under the patronage of Duke Carlo II Gonzaga-Nevers, exemplifies the dramatic dynamism and compositional complexity that characterize the artist’s late paintings. As Mary Newcome suggests (1992, loc. cit.), Castiglione’s monumental figures and tumultuous design draw direct inspiration from Giulio Romano’s Fall of the Giants fresco in the Sala dei Giganti at the Palazzo del Te, Mantua. Castiglione was firmly established in Mantua by 4 March 1661, where he supplied ‘pezzi venti di quadri favolosi’ for Carlo II’s Galleria dei Libri in the Ducal Palace, which are recorded, but not individually described, in the inventory taken after the Duke’s death on 10 December 1665.
The painting’s grand scale and dynamically posed, muscular figures are consistent with Castiglione’s documented Mantuan commissions for the church of San Francesco which reflect similar compositional and anatomical design. Renato Berzaghi (1989, op. cit., p. 55) underscores Castiglione’s broader engagement with Mantuan artists, highlighting his interactions with Daniele van den Dyck, whose Bacchanal in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo exhibits parallels with the present painting, particularly in its dynamic gestures and dramatic narrative. The subject of Samson’s destruction of the temple is rare in Genoese art, two notable examples are: Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo’s fresco in Palazzo Brignole (1628–33) and Domenico Piola’s drawing in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 3914; M. Newcome, op. cit.).
As recounted in Judges 16:28–31, Samson’s final act, blinded and held captive by the Philistines, was to destroy their temple, killing both himself and his captors. According to the narrative, Samson stood between two pillars and pushed them apart to collapse the structure. In this depiction, however, Castiglione portrays Samson with both hands gripping a single pillar, emphasizing his immense strength and the dramatic moment of destruction.
The painting’s grand scale and dynamically posed, muscular figures are consistent with Castiglione’s documented Mantuan commissions for the church of San Francesco which reflect similar compositional and anatomical design. Renato Berzaghi (1989, op. cit., p. 55) underscores Castiglione’s broader engagement with Mantuan artists, highlighting his interactions with Daniele van den Dyck, whose Bacchanal in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo exhibits parallels with the present painting, particularly in its dynamic gestures and dramatic narrative. The subject of Samson’s destruction of the temple is rare in Genoese art, two notable examples are: Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo’s fresco in Palazzo Brignole (1628–33) and Domenico Piola’s drawing in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 3914; M. Newcome, op. cit.).
As recounted in Judges 16:28–31, Samson’s final act, blinded and held captive by the Philistines, was to destroy their temple, killing both himself and his captors. According to the narrative, Samson stood between two pillars and pushed them apart to collapse the structure. In this depiction, however, Castiglione portrays Samson with both hands gripping a single pillar, emphasizing his immense strength and the dramatic moment of destruction.