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Overview

The Old Testament recounts how the Persian king Darius I "The Great" (550–486 BC) condemned the devout and steadfast Daniel to spend the night in a lions' den for worshipping God rather than him. The following morning, after the stone sealing the entrance was rolled away, the astonished Persians saw Daniel, very much alive, giving thanks to God for keeping him safe overnight: "Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." (Daniel 6:21–22) For theologians, Daniel's miraculous survival in the cave symbolized the resurrection of Christ from his tomb, and the promise of God's protection to those of unwavering faith.

During the Reformation, struggling to counter the rising tide of Protestantism, the Catholic Church celebrated the role of early Christian martyrs as a means to excite the faithful to a comparable spirit of religious fervor. Only by having gone through similar depths of despair could an individual truly appreciate the extent of Christ's suffering. Daniel provided a positive exemplar of a martyr who survived harsh persecution through personal faith, strength, constancy, and endurance.

Peter Paul Rubens, one of the greatest masters of the 17th century and a devout Catholic, masterfully combined realism and theatricality in order to draw a strong emotional reaction. Several lions, for instance, stare at us directly, suggesting that we share their space, and, like Daniel, experience the same menace. By portraying them close to life-size with convincing realism, Rubens heightens this immediacy. The lions' lifelike movement and their superbly rendered fur resulted from Rubens's direct observation and sketches he made at the royal menagerie in Brussels. The dramatic lighting and the exaggerated emotionalism of Daniel's prayerful pose add to the veracity. This grand, powerful, vivid image is unquestionably one of Rubens's most memorable artistic achievements during those fertile years following his return to Antwerp from Italy in 1609, at the beginning of the Twelve Years' Truce, when he became court painter to the regents in the Southern Netherlands, Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella.

Around 1600, Rubens, who had been trained in classical ideals and philosophy, had traveled from Antwerp to Italy to experience firsthand its artistic traditions, not only those coming from antiquity and the Renaissance, including the work of Raphael and Michelangelo, but also those being created by contemporary artists such as Caravaggio. The inspiration he gained from this multifaceted exposure profoundly affected his own style of painting and became the foundation for his future work. For example, while the lifelike character of the lions reflects Rubens's personal observation of these noble beasts, he also based their poses on ancient sculptures he had seen in Italy. With dramatic and boldly executed canvasses like Daniel in the Lions' Den, Rubens had a long-lasting impact on artists throughout Europe.

Provenance

Sir Dudley Carleton, 1st viscount Dorchester [1573-1632], English Ambassador to The Hague, who acquired the painting in 1618 from the artist in an exchange for antique sculpture; presented to Charles I, King of England [1600-1649], between c. 1625 and 1632, where it hung in the Bear Gallery at Whitehall;[1] James Hamilton-Douglas, 1st duke of Hamilton [1606-1649], Hamilton Palace, Scotland, by 1643; by descent in his family to William Alexander Louis Stephen Hamilton-Douglas, 12th duke of Hamilton [1845-1895], Hamilton Palace; (first Hamilton Palace sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 19 June 1882, no. 80); purchased by Duncan for Christopher Beckett Denison; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 13 June 1885, no. 925); purchased by Jamieson for the 12th duke of Hamilton; by inheritance to his kinsman, Alfred Douglas Hamilton-Douglas, 13th duke of Hamilton [1862-1940], Hamilton Palace; (second Hamilton Palace sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 6-7 November 1919, 1st day, no. 57); purchased by Kearley for Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st viscount Cowdray [1856-1927], Cowdray Park, Midhurst, Sussex; by inheritance to his son, Weetman Harold Miller Pearson, 2nd viscount Cowdray [1882-1933], Cowdray Park; by inheritance to his son, Weetman John Churchill Pearson, 3rd viscount Cowdray [1910-1995], Cowdray Park; (sale, Bonham's, London, 1 August 1963, no. 25, listed as by Jordaens and De Vos by Bonham's cataloguer, Mr. Lawson); withdrawn and sold by private treaty before the auction to (Julius H. Weitzner [1896-1986], New York); (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold 13 December 1965 to NGA.

[1] See Oliver Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 1963: 16. According to the Van der Doort inventory of circa 1639 (Oliver Millar, ed., Abraham van der Doort's Catalogue of the Collections of Charles I [The Walpole Society 37], Glasgow, 1960:, 4), the picture was given "by the deceased Lord Dorchester" (Sir Dudley Carleton died on 5 February 1632). The painting is not mentioned in an inventory made of Prince Charles' paintings collection around 1623/1624 (see Claude Phillips, The Picture Gallery of Charles I, London, 1896: 24).

Exhibition History
1873
Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1873, no. 131.
1899
Exhibition of Pictures by Masters of the Flemish and British Schools including a selection from the works of Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The New Gallery, London, 1899-1900, no. 145.
1969
In Memoria, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, no cat.
Bibliography
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 118.
1966
Walton, William. "Parnassus on Potomac." Art News 65 (March 1966): repro. 37.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 105, repro.
1970
Jaffé, Michael. "Some Recent Acquisitions of Seventeenth-Century Flemish Painting." Studies in the History of Art 1969 3 (1970): 6-19, fig. 1.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 314, repro.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 44-45, pl. 21.
1979
Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 66, pl. 49.
1982
Alsop, Joseph. The Rare Art Traditions: The History of Art Collecting and Its Linked Phenomena Wherever These Have Appeared. Bollingen series 35, no. 27. New York, 1982: 48.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 250, no. 317, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 362, repro.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 49, repro.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 220-221, no. 175, color repro
2005
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 166-174, color repro.
2013
Harris, Neil. Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience. Chicago and London, 2013: 82.
2013
Haskell, Francis. The King's Pictures: The Formation and Dispersal of the Collections of Charles I and His Courtiers. Edited by Karen Serres. New Haven and London, 2013: 129, fig. 131, 231.
2020
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Clouds, ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Folger Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2020: 24, fig. 7, 25.
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