Daniel and Cyrus Before the Idol Bel

In 1633 Rembrandt was in his mid-twenties, newly arrived in Amsterdam and building a name as the city's sharpest teller of Bible stories. This little panel, barely a foot wide, shows one of the stranger tales, from an apocryphal part of the Book of Daniel. King Cyrus of Persia insists that his idol Bel is a living god, since every night the statue eats the food laid before it. Daniel, calm and slight beside the towering king, points out that bronze does not eat, and offers to prove the priests are taking the offerings themselves. Rembrandt gives Cyrus all the gold and bulk and keeps Daniel small and plain. The huge idol stays half in shadow on the right, lit just enough by lamplight to feel present without being fully seen.