A Rubens Masterpiece.
Or a Really Big Mistake?
The National Gallery in London has dismissed serious questions about its prized ‘Samson and Delilah’ for decades. Now, new AI analysis seems to confirm what critics say has always been in plain sight: it can’t be by the hand of Rubens.
If you agree it is time for the Gallery to debate its authenticity in public – as they promised they would 25 years ago – please share our video and sign the open letter.
3 MINUTE VIDEO: The CURIOUS CASE OF THE ‘samson and delilah’
SIGN THE OPEN LETTER TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY
Whatever you think of the painting, please help ensure that both of sides of this argument are heard in a public debate:
“We, the undersigned, call on the National Gallery to publicly debate the authenticity of the ‘Samson and Delilah’, which hangs in Rubens’ name. We note that:
Very serious questions have been raised over three decades, that have never been properly addressed.
The Gallery promised a public debate on the evidence back in 1997 that it never delivered on.
New AI analysis of the painting suggests a 91% probability that it is not by Rubens’ hand.
The case for a full and open public debate is now overwhelming.”
* We will be sending this letter to the National Gallery’s Director and Board of Trustees in the coming months with a list of all signatories. Your name will not appear on this website and your email address will not be passed to anyone. We will never share or use your personal details for any other purpose.
REACTIONS OVER THE YEARS
The ‘Samson and Delilah’ has evoked strong reactions on both sides of the argument over the years, including some spectacular flip flops. It’s time for a proper public debate on this controversial and costly publicly-owned work of art: please sign the open letter.
“[THE EVIDENCE] is respectable and the scholar raises some serious questions that I cannot easily answer…”
— Neil MacGregor, Former NG Director
Responding to research by Dr. Kasia Pisarek, 1997
“Fascinating.”
—Tim Harford, journalist and author
on Twitter 2021
“The one thing all we doubters agree on is that the painting bought by the Gallery for a staggering sum in 1980 is not by Rubens.'”
— Waldemar Januszczak, art critic and journalist
In the Sunday Times in 1997, before a change of heart
“cutting off the toes of hero’s foot is a clear sign this painting is not the work of a master...”
— Terry Gilliam, film-maker
Public comment to afterRubens.org, 2005