Belshazzar’s feast
from 1634 until 1639
Rembrandt captures the exact moment of biblical panic in this dramatic Baroque masterpiece. King Belshazzar, mid-banquet, freezes in terror as a disembodied hand writes a mysterious Hebrew message on the wall, predicting his doom. The wine pitcher in the foreground is knocked askew, spilling its contents—a brilliant touch of chaos that mirrors the king's sudden realization that his reign is over. Rembrandt actually studied a Hebrew book to get the strange, blocky letters just right, though he arranged them in a way that would be hard to read even for the terrified guests!
Location: National Gallery, London
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