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Belshazzar's Feast

Not who you're looking for? Others named Belshazzar's Feast: painting by Rembrandt · incidental music by Jean Sibelius · cantata by the English composer William Walton · painting by Mattia Preti

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Overview

Belshazzar's Feast is an oil painting by British painter John Martin (1789–1854). It was first exhibited at the British Institution in February 1821 and won a prize of £200 for the best picture. It was so popular that it needed to be protected from the crowds by a railing, and established Martin's fame. In the words of Martin's biographer William Feaver, he "turned literary references to visual reality". Martin published mezzotint engravings in 1826 and 1832. The original painting is now held in a private collection; two smaller contemporaneous "sketches" are held by the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. The subject The Biblical episode depicted in the paintingBelshazzar's Feastis described in the Book of Daniel chapter 5. The Babylonian king Belshazzar is said to have defiled the sacred vessels of the enslaved Israelites by using them to serve wine at a banquet. The feast was then disturbed by the appearance of a divine hand, which wrote a glowing inscription on a wallthe writing on the wallwhich was interpreted by the prophet Daniel as a portent of Belshazzar's doom. Belshazzar was killed that night, and Darius the Mede succeeded to his kingdom. History The painting is the second piece in a trilogy of paintings by Martin on Mesopotamian themes, starting with his The Fall of Babylon in 1819, and completed with his The Fall of Ninevah in 1828. It was inspired by a conversation with the American artist Washington Allston and perhaps also by a poem by Thomas Smart Hughes. It shows a panoramic view of a cavernous banqueting room with columns on both sides, decorated with signs of the zodiac. The hall is filled with crowds of feasting Babylonians and is open to the sky, with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon above, and the Tower of Babel and a ziggurat visible in the background, lit by the moon revealed by a break in dark swirling clouds. The architecture is inspired by Egyptian, Babylonian and Indian styles. Dressed in black, Daniel stands at the centre of the foreground, interpreting the supernatural writing on the wall of the hall. Belshazzar recoils in astonishment and dread to his right, and others look on in shock and horror.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Not who you're looking for? Others named Belshazzar's Feast: painting by Rembrandt · incidental music by Jean Sibelius · cantata by the English composer William Walton · painting by Mattia Preti

Overview

Belshazzar's Feast is an oil painting by British painter John Martin (1789–1854). It was first exhibited at the British Institution in February 1821 and won a prize of £200 for the best picture. It was so popular that it needed to be protected from the crowds by a railing, and established Martin's fame. In the words of Martin's biographer William Feaver, he "turned literary references to visual reality". Martin published mezzotint engravings in 1826 and 1832. The original painting is now held in a private collection; two smaller contemporaneous "sketches" are held by the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. The subject The Biblical episode depicted in the paintingBelshazzar's Feastis described in the Book of Daniel chapter 5. The Babylonian king Belshazzar is said to have defiled the sacred vessels of the enslaved Israelites by using them to serve wine at a banquet. The feast was then disturbed by the appearance of a divine hand, which wrote a glowing inscription on a wallthe writing on the wallwhich was interpreted by the prophet Daniel as a portent of Belshazzar's doom. Belshazzar was killed that night, and Darius the Mede succeeded to his kingdom. History The painting is the second piece in a trilogy of paintings by Martin on Mesopotamian themes, starting with his The Fall of Babylon in 1819, and completed with his The Fall of Ninevah in 1828. It was inspired by a conversation with the American artist Washington Allston and perhaps also by a poem by Thomas Smart Hughes. It shows a panoramic view of a cavernous banqueting room with columns on both sides, decorated with signs of the zodiac. The hall is filled with crowds of feasting Babylonians and is open to the sky, with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon above, and the Tower of Babel and a ziggurat visible in the background, lit by the moon revealed by a break in dark swirling clouds. The architecture is inspired by Egyptian, Babylonian and Indian styles. Dressed in black, Daniel stands at the centre of the foreground, interpreting the supernatural writing on the wall of the hall. Belshazzar recoils in astonishment and dread to his right, and others look on in shock and horror.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).