Samson Slaying a Philistine - Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK - Gifts from Other Countries on Waymarking.com

The V&A website tells how the statue arrived in England:

How the statue came to England

'Samson and a Philistine' originally formed the apex of an ornamental fountain made for the Medici in Florence about 1560, but has twice since served as a diplomatic gift. In 1601 the whole fountain was given by the Grand-Duke Ferdinando I to the Duke of Lerma, chief minister of King Philip III of Spain, and shipped to Valladolid. A document describes the despatch by sea from Leghorn of the marble basin, sawn into four, and the other structural components.

Only 20 years later, in 1623, the crowning statue was given by King Philip IV to the Prince of Wales (later King Charles I), when he was visiting Spain to investigate the possibility of a Spanish marriage. Charles later passed it to his travelling companion and favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, who had it shipped to England via Santander (Privy Purse account, 1623: 'Given by his Lordship's orders at Valladolid to Mr. Gerbier towards the charge of bringing the great stone statue from thence to St. Andrews £40.').

Regrettably, the basin and pedestal were not included and at the time when this sheet was written could be found in the royal gardens at Aranjuez, crowned by a different statue ('Bacchus'). The group was promptly installed at York House, for by 17 June 1624 Sir Thomas Wentworth mentioned in a letter:

'... York House ... goes on, passing fast, another Corner symmetrical now appearing answerable to that other raised before you went thence, besides a goodly Statue of Stone set up in the Garden before the new Building, bigger than the Life, of a Sampson with a Philistine betwixt his Legs, knocking his Brains out with the Jawbone of an Ass.'

A decade later Henry Peacham in his 'Compleat Gentleman' referred to the statue, with a changed identity which persisted until recently, perhaps owing to the loss of the jawbone from the hand of the standing figure (now restored). The garden of York House, 'will bee renowned so long as John de Bologna's Cain and Abel stand erected there, a peece of wondrous Art and Workmanship. The King of Spaine gave it his Majestie at his being there, who bestowed it on the late Duke of Buckingham'. In the schedule to an indenture dated 11 May 1635, made on the marriage of Buckingham's widow to Lord Dunluce, occurs the entry: 'On the mount in the garden: a rare piece of white marble of Cain and Abell'.

The group also figures in a manuscript catalogue of Buckingham's collection made about 1650: 'No. 8. Cain and Abel in marble, by John of Bologna, now in York-house garden, or at Chelsea'. It was then moved from York House to Buckingham House, apparently between 1703, when the house was rebuilt by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, and 1714, when it is mentioned there in Macky's 'Journey through England': 'The staircase is large and nobly painted; in the hall before you ascend the stairs is a very fine statue of Cain slaying Abel in Marble'.

Buckingham House was acquired by George III as a palace in 1762, and at some time after this date the group was presented by the King to Thomas Worsley, Surveyor General of His Majesty's Works. The first record of the presence of the group at Hovingham occurs in a manuscript catalogue of 1778:
'The Vestibule. Samson slaying a Philistine, given as a parting gift by Philip King of Spain to our King Charles I, who gave it to Villiers Duke of Buckingham, was purchased with Buckingham House, and by the favour and grace of George III was sent to Hovingham'.
The group remained at Hovingham Hall until its acquisition by the Museum.

Country or International City that Gave the Gift: Spain Country or International City that Received the Gift: England Website Verifying this Item as a Gift from Another Country or International City: [Web Link]

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