A muscular man lies slumped across the lap of a richly dressed woman, his head resting on her thigh and his bare back exposed to the viewer. The woman, with pale skin and auburn hair, gazes downward, her left arm supporting the man's head as her right hand rests on her lap, her dress slipping from her shoulder to reveal her décolletage. Beside her, a young man leans forward, carefully cutting a lock of the reclining man's hair with a pair of scissors, his expression intent and cautious.

An older woman, her head wrapped in a white cloth, stands just behind, gesturing with one hand and watching the scene with a look of anticipation. The figures are grouped tightly in the foreground, their bodies illuminated by a warm, golden light that picks out the folds of their garments and the sheen of skin, while the background recedes into deep shadow. A heavy red drapery hangs above, framing the scene and adding to the sense of intimacy and drama.

To the right, an open door reveals two armored soldiers waiting in the darkness, their forms barely visible except for the glint of metal and the shafts of their spears. The composition is dynamic, with sweeping curves and diagonals created by the bodies and drapery, while the brushwork is energetic and loose, especially in the rendering of fabrics and hair. Deep reds, golds, and browns dominate the palette, punctuated by the white of the older woman's headscarf and the woman's sleeve. This painting is classified as religious art and features both Samson and Delilah as central figures. This is Peter Paul Rubens’s small preparatory oil sketch, painted around 1609 so that his patron Nicolaas Rockox, mayor of Antwerp, could approve the design of the large painting now in the National Gallery, London.

It is in the Cincinnati Art Museum.