Four Biblical Scenes

Rembrandt van Rijn

1655

Page of four pencil drawings: a half-naked man posing, an animal figure with wings underneath figure with halo, man and angels, and soldier fighting against smaller figure.
These four etchings were made by Rembrandt van Rijn for Menasseh Ben Israel’s book, Piedra Gloriosa (Glorious Stone), a messianic treatise. Clockwise from upper left, they illustrate the biblical stories of King Nebuchadnezzar’s first dream and its interpretation (Daniel 2); Daniel’s visions of four beasts (Daniel 7:1–28); David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17); and Jacob’s dream of a ladder (Genesis 28:10–19).

Credits

Rembrandt van Rijn, Four Illustrations to a Spanish Book, 1655. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Creator Bio

Rembrandt van Rijn

1606–1669
Rembrandt von Rijn is considered one of the greatest artists of all time. Born in Leiden in the Netherlands as the son of a prosperous miller, he apprenticed with a local painter and an artist in Amsterdam as a teenager and eventually set up his own studio in Amsterdam. He pioneered a new way of using light and shadow. Rembrandt soon became the city’s most sought-after portrait artist, but despite his fame, he experienced financial difficulties and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1656. Near the end of his life, he increasingly painted self-portraits. In addition to portraits, Rembrandt’s more than three hundred known paintings include historical and biblical scenes and landscapes.

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