An old man in a hooded cloak sits and speaks.
Bible in art · 2 Samuel
Nathan Admonishing David
Rembrandt · 1650–55
The Met, New York
Rembrandt made this quick pen drawing in brown ink in the early 1650s, in Amsterdam; it is about 25 centimetres wide. He drew many Bible scenes like this one, quickly and for study rather than for sale, with only a few strokes for the room.
On the left an old man in a hooded cloak sits and talks, one hand raised. Facing him on the edge of a curtained bed, a king with a small crown on his turban props his head on his hand and listens.
From the text
- “The LORD sent Nathan to David” (2 Samuel 12:1)
- Nathan tells the story of the rich man and the poor man (2 Samuel 12:1–4)
- “You are that man!” (2 Samuel 12:7)
The artist’s own
- A quiet talk sitting down in David’s bedroom
- David in a turban with a little crown, like an Eastern king of Rembrandt’s imagination
- A heavy curtained bed, drawn in loose zigzag lines
Details
Nathan
A raised hand
Nathan’s hand is lifted as he talks.
David
A king with a small crown on his turban props his head on his hand.
The bed
A curtained bed, sketched in a few loose strokes.
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Dutch, 1606–1669. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929; acc. 29.100.934) · Pen and brown ink, heightened with white gouache · Public Domain — The Met Open Access (CC0). The Met Collection API record: "isPublicDomain": true; The Met marks such works on its website "with the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) icon".