Belshazzar's Feast
Rembrandt·1636
Historical Context
Rembrandt painted Belshazzar's Feast around 1636-38, depicting the dramatic Old Testament scene where a mysterious hand writes on the wall during the Babylonian king's sacrilegious banquet. The painting's spectacular light effects — the golden lettering blazing against the darkness — and the terrified reactions of the banqueters demonstrate Rembrandt at his most theatrically ambitious. He consulted his friend Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel for the Hebrew inscription. Now in the National Gallery, the painting is one of the most dramatic biblical paintings of the seventeenth century.
Technical Analysis
The explosive burst of light from the divine inscription illuminates the king's terrified face and the spilling wine, with Rembrandt's virtuoso rendering of gold-embroidered robes and jewels creating a scene of opulent, panicked splendor.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the divine inscription blazing with golden light against the darkness — the miraculous writing visible to the viewer as it was to the terrified banqueters.
- ◆Look at Belshazzar's face: the expression of a man who has seen divine judgment written out in fire, terror replacing the arrogance of royal power.
- ◆Observe the spilling wine and jeweled goblets — material opulence at the exact moment of its divine reckoning.
- ◆Find the Hebrew inscription Rembrandt painted with the help of Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel — the actual words 'Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' rendered in authentic script.
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