This is the Caravaggio technique being utilized by the Dutch sensibility, striving for realism but also for dramatic and artistic appeal. Honthorst frames the scene with alternating shadows and glows, ultimately bringing the viewer's eyes to rest on the merriment of the Matchmaker and her prominently displayed bosom, indicating and reinforcing the theme of the narrative: she holds the keys to the happiness of the supplicating figures who are enshrouded in the darkness of bachelorhood (Marucci 345)
Velazquez used a more dignified approach to painting, one that was less traditional, but more intuitive; one that was less artificial, yet more realistic; one that created impressions without surrendering any sense of realism. Velazquez laid the groundwork for future Spanish artists like Goya, who would look to the painter for guidance in the areas of producing effect by confidently applying the right amount of pigment, with tonal unity in mind, and with saturation also in view (Perez 60)
The backdrop is not as entrenched in shadow as a Caravaggio or as Rubens's Two Satyrs, which mainly focuses on the features of the myth, but rather allows the features of the room and even the soldiers in the hallway outside the room to add to the drama of the scene. One soldier in the far backdrop carries a torch which helps to balance the painting by bringing some illumination to the right side of the panel, reflecting in a way the illumination of the left side's lamp, which highlights the charms of Delilah and the curls of Samson's hair which are being cut off (Plesters 40)
If it leapt from the canvas with life and realism, this was what was essential. In his mature works, Velazquez uses layers to "soak in light" and then reflect it back onto the viewer (Sanchez 38)
The oil on wood medium appears to have allowed the colors to stand out one from another, giving the overall mood of the painting a gauzy, dreamy quality that reflects the thematic nature of the narrative. In this sense, it appears that Rubens's technique is to mirror the story in the application of the paint itself (Saunders 77)
He strived to create an effect of color harmonies in his works and to create the impression of refracted light, as is seen in a mirror. His ability to depict reflections stemmed from his nuance of accent, using a "silvery transparency" to "heighten the mirrored reflections" of objects within the paintings (Serullaz 21)
Rather than painting in an idealized manner, as other artists do, in order to create an effect of beauty and harmony, Caravaggio effected the Baroque manner by treating of his subjects with a realistic eye for detail. Caravaggio's "vigorous" method of painting in a realistic way, albeit with an eye for the dramatic effect, is what helped make the Baroque era so lifelike and animated (Slive 7)
His technique was tonally harmonious, like Velazquez, and the overall output indicates that there was something joyous and playful in his approach to his subject, when it was not something sorrowful like one of the Passion depictions. When his attention was turned to the happy portraits of musicians, for instance, Honthorst could became a kind of clownish Caravaggio, one who was able to use the effect of the Italian master for a heartier and more down-to-earth depiction of the other aspects of human nature that are seldom called to mind by the dramatic technique of chiaroscuro (Viardot 329)
As Dutch art was influenced by the Italian masters, this is no surprise. However, the fact that the Dutch audience during the Golden Age was of a different temper than the Italian audiences, "necessitated alternative" styles, which might appeal to the new Dutch middle class (Zuffi 14)
In this sense, the painting is a throwback to works like those of Rembrandt, the Dutch Baroque painter, who often included characters in his paintings whose eyes were turned towards the viewer as though the viewer were interrupting some important action by approaching the canvas. Baroque art grew out of the Catholic Church's response to the rise of Protestantism and wanted to emphasize a naturalistic and realistic point in realistic arts (Johnson 178)
It also wanted to showcase dramatic works that emphasized the actual nature of mankind -- that it was fallen rather than born without the stain of Original Sin. Thus Baroque works typically highlighted the human rather than the ideal and the dramatic interplay through light or action of reality and the human consciousness (Wolfe 67)