John Cheere, 1709–1787, Britishafter Giambologna, Flemish, 1529–1608, Flemish, active in Italy
Title:
Samson Slaying a Philistine
Date:
between 1740 and 1770
Materials & Techniques:
Lead
Dimensions:
Overall: 79 15/16 inches (203 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund, in honor of Jane and Richard C. Levin, President of Yale University (1993-2013)
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2012.3
Classification:
Sculptures
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
Philistine | religious and mythological subject | Samson in conflict with the Philistines (Judges 15:1-8)
Currently On View:
Not on view
Publications:
John P. S. Davis, Antique Garden Ornament, 300 years of creativity , Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1991, pp. 36,42,43, SB473.5 D38 1991 (HAAS)Angela Delaforce, Rococo Variations, The Palatial Pleasures of Queluz, Portugal , ICON Magazine, World Monuments Fund, New York, NY, Spring 2004, pp. 36-37, V2397 (YCBA)Terry Friedman, The Man at Hyde Park Corner, Sculpture by John Cheere, 1709-1787 , Temple Newsam House, Leeds, 1974, Cat. 3, NJ18 C42788 F75 (YCBA)Moira Fulton, John Cheere, the eminent statuary, his workshop and practice 1737-1787, Sculpture Journal, vol. x, Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, London, 2003, p. 24, NB1 S39 (HAAS)Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, Murrays Books sales, London, 1968, p. 100, NB496 G85 1968 (YCBA)Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), Acceptance in Lieu, Report 2009/2010 , Birmingham, 2010, p. 23, front cover, V 2400 (YCBA)Restored John Cheere sculptures from Quelez Palace, Lisbon, on show at Tate Britain , World Monuments Fund Britain, 2009, p. 2, V2398 (YCBA)Ingrid Roscoe, A biographical dictionary of sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2009, pp. 265, 267, no. 45, 77, NB496 B56 2009 (YCBA) (Wall Shelf 3) Yale electronic resource also available online: OrbisSouthill, A Regency House, , Faber & Faber, London, 1951, pp. 55,79, NA7625 S68 S68 (YCBA)Tomasso Brothers, John Cheere (London 1709-1787), after Giambologna (Douai 1529-Florence 1608) , 2012, pp. 1-2, V2399 (YCBA)Jane Turner, The Dictionary of Art, The Macmillan Company, New York, NY, 1996, p. 528, vol. 6, N31 D5 1996 (YCBA)Lawrence Weaver, English Leadwork, its art & history , B.T. Batsford, London, 1909, pp. 166-167, NK8350 W43 OVERSIZE (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
This scene is taken from a biblical narrative in which the Israelite hero Samson defeats an army of Philistines using only an animal bone as a weapon. The sculpture depicts the dreadful moment before Samson delivers the deadly blow to a Philistine soldier, whose contorted body is pinned to the ground. Made in Britain in the eighteenth century, it is a copy of a famous and influential sculpture carved by Giambologna, a Flemish-born sculptor active in Florence. Giambologna’s work had initially been intended as a centerpiece of a fountain but was sent abroad as a diplomatic gift and eventually entered the collection of King Charles I of England as a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture. Unlike the original, which was carved from a single block of marble, this copy was one of a number cast in lead by John Cheere, the leading producer of garden statuary in Britain at that time. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2022