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Notes
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In the middle of the party, a clap of thunder came as a warning. God’s hand appeared from a cloud and wrote in Hebrew script: ‘You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.’ Within hours, Belshazzar was dead.
In Amsterdam, churches were plain, but people had pictures, some of them religious, in their homes. Encouraged to read the Bible, they would have been familiar with Belshazzar’s fate and with the cautionary message of the story of a wicked king watched by heavenly eyes – like the piercing eyes of the recorder player looking out from the shadows.
Title
Belshazzar's Feast
Date
about 1636-8
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 167.6 x W 209.2 cm
Accession number
NG6350
Acquisition method
Bought with a contribution from The Art Fund, 1964.
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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