The rider in a turban raises his stick to beat the donkey.
Bible in art · Numbers
Balaam and the Angel
Dirck Coornhert · 1554
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Dirck Coornhert of Haarlem, an engraver who was also a writer and scholar, made this print in 1554 after a design by Maarten van Heemskerck; Hieronymus Cock published it in Antwerp. The sheet is the left half of a two-plate print.
Heemskerck, who had spent years in Rome, set the story among Roman ruins: arches, columns, statues in niches and walls overgrown with vines. The donkey sinks to its knees before an angel in a burst of light, and Balaam raises his stick to strike her.
From the text
- The angel of the LORD with a drawn sword (Numbers 22:23)
- A narrow way between vineyards, with a wall on each side (Numbers 22:24)
- The donkey lying down under Balaam, and Balaam beating her (Numbers 22:27)
The artist’s own
- Ruins of ancient Rome instead of a road in Moab
- Antique statues standing in niches
- The angel floating on a cloud of light
- The publisher’s and engraver’s names carved on a rock
Details
Balaam
The donkey
The donkey sinks to its knees on the path.
The angel
A winged figure with a sword rushes in on a cloud of light.
Vineyard walls
Heavy bunches of grapes hang over the walls.
Roman ruins
A great broken vault and arches, overgrown with plants.
Names on a rock
Cock’s name, the year 1554 and Coornhert’s monogram “DVC”.
Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert, Dutch, 1522–1590, after Maarten van Heemskerck. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Gift of the Estate of Leo Steinberg, 2011.139.57) · Etching and engraving [left plate of 2 plates] on laid paper · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)