Daniel and Cyrus Before the Idol Bel

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

1633

Oil on panel, Oil

J. Paul Getty Museum

A richly dressed man in a turban holds a scepter over a table with offerings, while a kneeling figure gestures with clasped hands. A large statue is visible in the background. When King Cyrus of Persia, seen at the center, asked his confidant Daniel why he does not worship the deity Bel, whose lower half can be seen in the shadows, Daniel replied that he worshipped a living god, not an idol. The king insisted that Bel was a living god and pointed to the offerings of food and wine that Bel consumed every night. Cautiously, Daniel noted that bronze statues do not eat. Cyrus was momentarily bewildered, but the worried faces of the priests in the background confirm that Daniel has exposed their deception. This story of Daniel's dramatic exposure of the king's idol-worship derives from the apocryphal portion o