Img. ID: 25219
 |
 |
|
Fig. 1: Heroic deeds of Samson Formerly the second front or first back flyleaf woodcut in the Hybrid Ashkenazi Mahzor (BSB Cod.hebr. 21) Munich, SGS Inv. Nr. 171525
|
Fig. 2: Heroic deeds of Samson, woodcut Stephan Fridolin, Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils, fig. 64 Nuremberg, 1491 Munich, BSB Rar. 293, fol 55v
|
Formerly the second front or first back flyleaf of Cod.hebr. 21 (now SGS, Inv. Nr. 171525; Schreiber 1969, No. 5202; Stadler 1913:13: designer B (Wolgemut); Schramm 1934:380; Hernad 1990:232-233).
The woodcut depicts four heroic deeds of Samson (fig. 1). Samson, wearing a red garment and boots, is trampling a vanquished lion lying on its back. On his left shoulder he carries the double gates ofGaza, while he holds in his right hand the ass's jawbone with which he killed the Philistines to his left. Behind him is the yellow field of corn which he burnt by using three hundred foxes, and in the background is the city ofGaza(Judg.14-16).
Framing the depiction is an acanthus scroll inhabited by men with dogs hunting a bear, a deer and two monkeys.
This woodcut (fig. 1) originally appeared in Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils, fig. 64 (Treasure Chest of the True Riches of Salvation) written by the Franciscan preacher Stephan Fridolin (1430-1498) and published by Anton Korberger in Nuremberg in 1491 (fig. 2). It is a compendium of Catholic piety illustrated with 96 woodcuts from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. Fridolin's text relates to twin depictions, by giving them a typological interpretation with reference to other woodcuts.
This scene of Samson's heroic deeds (Judg. 14:5-6, 15:4-5, 15-16, 16:1-3) and its clarification by Fridolin (BSB, Rar. 293, fol. 55v) was entitled: No.5 Alle Wirdigkeit hat Cristum bedeut. It belongs to the first article of the fifteenth counter-design (Gegenwurf), dealing with Nazarite dignity, prefigured in Old Testament figures and incarnate in Christ. In the text to this image, Fridolin states that Samson was usually remembered for his heroic deeds, due to which he is a typological figure of Christ, but not for his ‘Nazarite’ quality, i.e. consecration to God from birth making him a holy person and a particular prefiguration of Christ. Referring to Judg. 13:5: ‘… nazareus Dei ab infantia sua et ex matris utero’ (‘… for the child [Samson] shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb’), Fridolin compares this quality of Samson to that of Christ, discussed previously. ‘Nazareus’ (or ‘Nazarenus’) in the Gospel’s case is thus a quality that describes Christ and establishes his connection to the Old Testament Nazarites, particularly to Samson, who like Christ was conceived by divine intervention, and who therefore was a holy person and a redeemer of his people (BSB, Rar. 293, fol. 57r. See also: Sanders, ‘Nαζωραίος in Matt 2:23’, 169-72). In this sense ‘Nazareus’ was interpreted by medieval theologians, for example by Remigius of Auxerre, who stated that ‘Nazareus’ means from the town of Nazareth, where Jesus was conceived, but also a holy person, devoted to God by a vow, particularly mentioning Samson (PL, 131, Cols. 899A-C: Remigius Antissiodorensis, Homiliae, Homilia VI).