Bible in art · Daniel

Daniel's Vision of the Four Beasts

Rembrandt · 1655
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

This plate is one of four tiny plates Rembrandt etched for “Piedra gloriosa” (1655), a Spanish book about the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream by his Amsterdam neighbour, the rabbi and printer Menasseh ben Israel. Rembrandt fits a whole chapter into a picture about 10 cm high.

At the bottom, in darkness, the four beasts come up: a winged lion on its hind legs, a bear, a beast with many heads and one with horns. Above them, in rays of light, a figure sits on a throne among crowds.

From the text

Four great beasts coming up out of the sea (Daniel 7:3)
A lion with eagle’s wings made to stand like a man; a bear; a leopard with four heads; a beast with ten horns (Daniel 7:4–7)
The Ancient of Days taking his seat, with thousands attending (Daniel 7:9–10)

The artist’s own

The beasts on dark ground rather than rising from a sea
Heaven as a ring of light with rays falling down

Details

The throne

A bright ring of light over a figure seated on a throne; rays fall down from it.

In the beam

Below the throne, a figure stands in the falling light.

The winged lion

It stands upright on its hind legs, wings spread.

Horns

At the right a beast with tall horns.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Mr and Mrs De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland; RP-P-1961-995) · Etching, burin and drypoint · Image: "Public Domain" (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/); object metadata: CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) — Rijksmuseum Linked Art record.

The verses

Dan 7:2–10Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea. Then four great beasts came up out of the sea, each one different from the others: The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and given the mind of a man. Suddenly another beast appeared, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. So it was told, ‘Get up and gorge yourself on flesh!’ Next, as I watched, another beast appeared. It was like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance. As I continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.

See it at the museum’s site