Samson holding the jaw bone of an ass over his head and standing next to the Philistines he has just killed, more dead bodies in the background, a tapered composition with rounded top, after Reni

Print • Prints

Created in 1660 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Flaminio Torre worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.

Executed in Etching, measuring Sheet (Trimmed): 15 5/16 × 12 3/16 in. (38.9 × 31 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Flaminio Torre builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.

“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”