Carl Ludvig Jessen has here depicted a scene from The Old Testament. Samson was invincible, until his hair was cut off. The strength was in his hair. Delilah harasses him to tell his secret.

He told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head was shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man". The Book of Judges Chapter 16:17.

Carl Ludvig Jessen studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen 1853–56 under Vilhelm Marstrand, and then worked as a painter in Friesland. He was known as a painter of history, portraits and interiors, especially the interiors of the inhabitants of Friesland. He is represented in several museums: Museum of Hamburg (Kunsthalle, Altonaer Museum), Schleswig (SHLM), Kiel (Kunsthalle), Flensburg, Husum, Nuremberg, among others.