Painting of the Month

Rembrandt, 'Belshazzar's Feast', about 1635
Special Feature: The Writing's on the Wall

Rembrandt's 'Belshazzar's Feast' is a dramatic 'tour de force' focusing on a moment of extreme terror. The story derives from the Old Testament (Daniel 5) which tells of Belshazzar, King of the Babylon, who had displeased God at a feast and was punished when a hand appeared and wrote a message on the wall foretelling his destruction and the end of his kingdom.

The biblical story is the origin of the common term 'The writing's on the wall' - a portent of something's demise or the beginning of the end.

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