Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Death of Samson
A great standing figure presses against two columns while crowds and broken architecture fill the surrounding hall. Doré organises the catastrophe around the upright body at its centre. Falling beams and packed spectators make the hall’s size and instability inseparable. The caption identifies Samson’s death beneath the building he brings down. The design holds strength and destruction in the same gesture, giving the viewer a scene in which the central action cannot be separated from its terrible cost to the assembled people.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The Death of Samson" [editorial title]. In The Bible Gallery, Gustave Dore; Talbot W. Chambers. Undated Cassell & Company edition; one hundred illustrations with supplied descriptive letterpress, undated edition, Cassell & Company, Limited. Source scan leaf 117. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/bible-dore-116
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Complete plate reviewed against the scan; printed caption supplies subject. Crop excludes surrounding paper and separate caption without changing scan tone. Letterpress theology is not adopted as historical proof.
Sources
From the book
The Bible GalleryGustave Dore; Talbot W. ChambersUndated editionMore from this book
All 98 illustrations
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Cite this illustration
Gustave Doré (design). The Death of Samson. The Bible Gallery. Scan leaf 117. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/bible-dore-116