On the second floor of London’s National Gallery hangs a prized painting that, when it changed hands in 1980, was bought for a record sum. The original Samson and Delilah was painted by the 17th-century Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens around 1609; it was a commission from his close friend and patron Nicolaas II Rockox, the mayor of Antwerp, to hang above his fireplace.
It is now seemingly in pride of place in the gallery on Trafalgar Square in London. However, some art historians argue this is not a long-lost Rubens masterpiece at all – contending instead that it is an extraordinarily expensive fake.
