{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O94079"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O94079/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NT2329/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NT2329/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NT2329","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2810","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2811","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2330","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2331","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2355","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2354","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2358","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2356","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2402","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2371","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2397","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NT2457","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BB2235","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU4729","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT6464","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP1045","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP1046","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP1047","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP1048","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP1049","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O94079/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O94079","accessionNumber":"A.1-1991","objectType":"Figure group","titles":[{"title":"Samson and the Philistines","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This monumental marble group, signed and dated \"VINvS FOGGINI SCULPSIT FLORENTIÆ 1749\" depicts the biblical hero Samson in the act of killing two Philistines. The sculpture was purchased by Charles Watson-Wentworth (1730-1782), Lord Malton and later 2nd Marquess of Rockingham during his Grand Tour of 1748–1749. The young nobleman spent several months in Florence between 1748 and 1749 and must have seen the marble sculpture in an advanced state of completion in Vincenzo Foggini’s workshop at the Borgo Pinti. The work was delivered to Wentworth Woodhouse, the family Country House in Yorkshire by mid-1750. Initially intended for the estate’s Great Hall, it was instead installed in the ground-floor Pillared Hall due to its considerable weight. It remained there until the museum’s acquisition.\r\nDue to its signature, the sculpture has for long been considered to be the most ambitious work by Vincenzo Foggini, son of the celebrated Florentine sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini. This spectacular marble is indebted to Giambologna’s Samson Slaying a Philistine (also at the V&A: A.7-1954) dating back from 1560-62. However, the present sculpture is more frontal respecting to Giambologna’s serpentine figure. The composition differs also with the addition of another Philistine, an idea taken directly from Michelangelo’s lost project on the same subject, which is known through a number of bronze casts. \r\nSurprisingly, the marble group can be traced back in the Florentine workshop of the Borgo Pinti, where Vincenzo Foggini and the former Court sculptors to the Medici worked. It appears that the sculpture was roughed out by at least 1608, date of Giambologna death. Giambologna’s original group of Samson had been sent to Spain in 1601 as a diplomatic gift from Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici to the Duke of Lerma, chief minister to Philip III of Spain. It is possible that Ferdinando I asked Giambologna to conceive a new marble of the same subject for Florence. Over the following decades, the unfinished group passed through the hands of Pietro and Ferdinando Tacca, then Giovanni Battista Foggini and finally his son Vincenzo. \r\nThe marble must have been nearly completed by the 1720s when it inspired its own variants by Giuseppe Brocetti including a terracotta, a lost marble group documented via a surviving drawing and a porcelain figure produced by the Doccia manufactory. However, it was only when Lord Malton visited Florence that Vincenzo Foggini signed and dated the work before it was shipped to England. The Samson is a rare and powerful work completed over the course of 150 years by four generations of sculptors at the Medici court.\n\n(Kira d'Alburquerque, 2025)","physicalDescription":"Marble figure group depicting Samson and the Philistines, inscribed, 'VINVS FOGGINI / SCVLPSIT FLO / RENTIAE / 1749'.  The group comprises of three male nudes; Samson stands, a jaw bone in his raised right hand, astride two struggling Philistines.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Tacca, Pietro","id":"A3992"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Foggini, Vincenzo","id":"A12010"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"AAT25181"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Borgo Pinti workshop","id":"AUTH411137"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved marble","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2024NT2329","2024NT2810","2024NT2811","2024NT2330","2024NT2331","2024NT2355","2024NT2354","2024NT2358","2024NT2356","2024NT2402","2024NT2371","2024NT2397","2024NT2457","2006BB2235","2006AU4729","2006AT6464","2023NP1045","2023NP1046","2023NP1047","2023NP1048","2023NP1049"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"22","id":"THES49843"},"free":"","case":"FS","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Group","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Florence","id":"x28848"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"before 1608","earliest":null,"latest":"1607-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1749","earliest":"1749-01-01","latest":"1749-12-31"},"association":{"text":"dated","id":"AAT54714"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"A.7-1954","id":"O14761"},"association":"Source"}],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support, and the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Murray Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"233","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'VINVS FOGGINI / SCVLPSIT FLO / RENTIAE / 1749'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"marble","method":"carved","position":"lower part of 'rocky' base","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Maker's identification","note":"Maker's identification; lower part of 'rocky' base; carved; marble"}],"objectHistory":"Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire, 1750-1985 (bought in 1749 by Charles Lord Malton, later 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730-1782) and passed by descent through the heirs of his sister Anne and her husband, the 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam): Christie's, London, 15 July 1986, lot 96; Fred Koch, London; Christie's, London, 5 December 1989, lot 204; Green Drake Corporation, New York. Purchased by the Museum for £350,000 from Green Drake Corp., in 1991.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Figure group, marble, depicting Samson and the Philistines, by Vincenzo Foggini, Italy (Florence), dated 1749","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kira d'Alburquerque, 'Nuove considerazioni sul Sansone firmato da Vincenzo Foggini al Victoria and Albert Museum', in <i>Studi di Storia dell'Arte: Artisti che non si direbbon di primo seggio. Comprimari (o protagonisti?) della scultura barocca tra Firenze e Roma</i>, ed. Andrea Bacchi, Duccio K. Marignoli, october 2025, pp. 51-62."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tomasso Brothers Fine Art. <U>Scultura.</U> London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2008, pp. 110-111. ISBN 9781903470893."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cotman, Viccy. <font -u>Fabricating the Antique: Neoclassicism in Britain, 1760-1800.</font> Chicago; London, 2006. p. 137, and fig. 58 on p. 138."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jeremy Warren, 'Giambologna in Inghilterra e in America, in <u>Giambologna gli dei, gli eroi. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, 2006, fig. 7 onp. 132."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul, \"Acquisition of Sculpture at the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1986-1991\", in: <u>Burlington Magazine</u>, Dec. 1991, p. 880"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Penny, Nicholas, 'Lord Rockingham's Sculpture Collection and the Judgement of Paris by Nollekens', in: The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal</u>, Vol. 19, 1991, pp. 5-34"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Warren, Jeremy, 'Giambologna in Inghliterra e in America', in Giambologna gli dei, gli eroi (exh. cat.), Museo Nazionale del Borgello, Florence, 2006, fig. 7 on p. 132"},{"reference":{"text":"Jackson-Stops, Gervase (ed.) <i>The Treasure houses of Britain : five hundred years of private patronage and art collecting</i>. Washington D.C. : National Gallery of Art, 1985.","id":"AUTH354368"},"details":"214","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"<i>The twilight of the Medici; late baroque art in Florence, 1670-1743</i>. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1974","id":"AUTH354369"},"details":"43","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Samson","id":"N654"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"men","id":"AAT25928"},{"text":"nudes","id":"AAT189568"},{"text":"bone","id":"AAT11798"},{"text":"Philistine","id":"AAT20643"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Vincenzo Foggini (active 1692–1755)\r\nSamson and the Philistines\r\nSigned and dated 1749\n\r\nHere, the Old Testament hero Samson uses the jawbone of an ass to kill two of the Philistines who were taunting him. For this work, the Florentine sculptor Foggini reinterpreted a dramatic pose created nearly 200 years earlier by the celebrated sculptor Giambologna, whose studio Foggini had inherited. Giambologna’s marble, Samson Slaying a Philistine, is displayed in the Medieval &amp; Renaissance gallery.\n\r\nFlorence\r\nMarble\r\nPurchased by Charles Watson-Wentworth, then Lord Malton (1730–82), later 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, for Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire","date":{"text":"2021","earliest":"2021-01-01","latest":"2021-12-31"}},{"text":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"Vicenzo Foggini (active 1725-1753)\r\nSamson and the Philistines\r\nSigned and dated 1749\r\nThis massive figure group shows the Old Testament hero Samson using\r\n the jawbone of an ass to kill two of the Philistines who were taunting him. Foggini sold it directly to the young Lord Malton (later 2nd Marquess of Rockingham), when he visited Italy in 1749 to buy works of art for Wentworth Woodhouse, the family seat in Yorkshire.","date":{"text":"Nov. 2010","earliest":"2010-01-01","latest":"2010-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["A.1-1991"],"accessionNumberNum":"1","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1991,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN4415","2019LT1613","2019LU8061","2019LW2052"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-10","recordCreationDate":"2004-02-26","availableToBook":false}}