Manoah's Sacrifice

The story comes from the Book of Judges. Manoah and his wife, who will become the parents of Samson, offer a young goat on a rock, and the messenger who brought them the news rises away in the flame of their own sacrifice. Rembrandt signs and dates it 1641, one year before he finished the Night Watch, when he was the busiest portrait painter in Amsterdam. He gives you the couple from behind, kneeling, their faces lifted toward a figure already dissolving into smoke and light. Scholars have argued for a long time about that ascending angel, whether Rembrandt painted it when he signed the canvas or added it years later, which is why you may see the picture credited to Rembrandt and his workshop.