The narrative in 1 Samuel 1 opens with a reference to Elkanah (‘There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite (v.1; NRSV). The main character of the story, however, is Hannah.

Hannah is barren (v.5), she is offended by Elkanah’s other wife Peninnah (v.6), she prays alone for a child (v.13), she weeps (v.10) and makes a vow (v.11). She then becomes pregnant, gives birth to a son, and gives him a name (v.20). Finally, she determines the time when she will bring her firstborn Samuel to the sanctuary (v.23–24). From that time onward, she will make Samuel a little robe each year, and take it to him when she goes up with Elkanah to offer the yearly sacrifice (1 Samuel 2:19).

Images of Hannah bringing Samuel to the Temple in Shiloh, as recounted in 1 Samuel 1:21–28, clearly show the influence of different textual versions and interpretations. According to the Hebrew Masoretic text, Hannah is alone when bringing Samuel to Eli. Yet the version in the Greek Septuagint (as well as a Qumran fragment, 4QSama) adds that Elkanah went with them (see Hutzli 2007: 83–85). In one version, bringing Samuel to the Temple was seen as a courageous initiative of his mother; in the other it was part of a ritual and the yearly sacrifice at Shiloh for which Elkanah was responsible.

However, it is not only textual differences (and there are others—for instance, the number of sacrificial animals brought to Shiloh, 1 Samuel 1:24) that are reflected in different visual representations of this episode. Varied depictions of this scene through the centuries also reflect changes in gender roles, as well as differences in conceptions of family, childhood, and mothering, in shifting social and historical contexts. The visual arts demonstrate that the biblical text does not simply exist unchangingly ‘in itself’ but has constantly been received and understood afresh by different communities of readers. These ‘actualization processes’ are shaped by the respective social, political, historical, religious, and other circumstances in which they occur. It is therefore important to understand the changes and shifts in value systems in different time periods and regions, and to incorporate a sociohistorical approach when analyzing works of art (Nakamura 2014: 47).

In the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, the depiction of this episode reflects a clear religious-political interpretation, fitted to a larger typographical framework and shot through with contemporary anti-Jewish sentiments. Further, the story has been ‘used’ over the centuries to represent a series of very specific models of childhood (sometimes little Samuel is shown naked before the high priest Eli, to demonstrate his innocence and purity), and of motherhood. In the course of time, Hannah becomes more and more the heroine who actively surrenders her maternal rights over him, fulfilling her vow by presenting her son for service in the Temple.

The family plays an especially important role in the depictions of Dutch art. During the seventeenth century the market for portraits expanded, and family group portraits were frequently commissioned to demonstrate the family’s status. Biblical scenes served as a model for so called portraits historiés (historicized portraits). Yet, an important part of the narrative is suppressed and hidden in such paintings, in favour of the depiction of an ‘ideal’ monogamous family world (see Kipfer 2021: 88–91). Samuel’s actual family of origin did not consist of father, mother, and son alone, for Elkanah had a second wife, Peninnah, and she already had several children before Samuel was born.

The photograph by Margaret Watkins, does not show Elkanah. Instead, it captures a self-confident and calm Hannah. Samuel’s presentation for service in the Temple in this case conveys a monumental stability, and all the figures are shown in a uniform, upright posture.

Thus, works of art are never just representations of the biblical text. They never simply reproduce, but always present contemporary ideas. Not only the biblical text but also its reception history act as a mirror to changing cultures through time.

Meanwhile, Samuel is destined to witness a cultural change of his own; one of the most revolutionary in Israel’s history. For, he will preside over the end of the era of the Judges and the establishment of a monarchy. It will be the crossing of another threshold.

References

Hutzli, Jürg. 2007. Die Erzählung von Hanna und Samuel. Textkritische- und literarische Analyse von 1. Samuel 1–2 unter Berücksichtigung des Kontextes, AThANT 89 (Zürich: Theologischer Verlag)

Kipfer, Sara. 2021. ’Hanna bringt Samuel in den Tempel (1Sam 1,21–28). Zum Wandel der Mutterrolle in Bildern vom 17. bis ins 20. Jahrhundert‘, in Samuelmusik: Die Rezeption des biblischen Samuel in Geschichte, Musik und Bildender Kunst, ed. by Walter Dietrich, SBR 19 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter), pp. 67–91

______. 2015. ‘Hannah (Mother of Samuel). VI. Visual Arts’, in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, vol. 10 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter), pp. 241–42

Nakamura, Toshiharu. 2014. ‘An Introduction to Interpreting Images of Family, Mother and Child, and the Home’, in Images of Familial intimacy in Eastern and Western Art, ed. by Toshiharu Nakamura (Leiden: Brill), pp. 1–53