Daniel in the Lions' Den
c. 1614/1616
Artist, Flemish, 1577 - 1640
Peter Paul Rubens’s enormous painting, based on the Old Testament story of Daniel, puts us right in the lions’ den. The Jewish youth was condemned to spend the night with the brutal beasts for worshipping his God rather than the Persian king Darius. Will he survive? The pacing animals might attack the frantically praying Daniel at any minute. Their realistic fur makes our own hair stand on end. We can only hope that the light encircling Daniel ensures his safety—and miraculously, it does. This story of faith, theatrically portrayed at such a grand scale, was meant to encourage passion and piety.
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 45
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 224.2 x 330.5 cm (88 1/4 x 130 1/8 in.)
framed: 267.97 × 374.65 × 15.24 cm (105 1/2 × 147 1/2 × 6 in.)
framed weight: 113.399 kg (250 lb.) -
Accession
1965.13.1
More About this Artwork
Video: Peter Paul Rubens's "Daniel in the Lions' Den" (ASL)
This video provides an ASL description of Sir Peter Paul Rubens's painting, Daniel in the Lions' Den.
Artwork history & notes
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, Bonhams, London, 1 August 1963, no. 25, listed as by Jordaens and De Vos by Bonhams' 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).
Associated Names
- Carleton, 1st viscount Dorchester, Sir Dudley
- Charles I, King of England
- Hamilton, James, 1st Duke of
- Hamilton, William Alexander Louis Stephen, 12th Duke of
- Duncan
- Denison, Christopher Beckett
- Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
- Jamieson
- Hamilton, Alfred Douglas, 13th Duke of
- Kearley
- Pearson, 1st viscount Cowdray, Weetman Dickinson
- Pearson, 2nd viscount Cowdray, Weetman Harold Miller
- Cowdray, Weetman John Churchill Pearson, 3rd viscount
- M. Knoedler & Company
- Bonhams
- Weitzner, Julius H.
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.
2019
Early Rubens, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2019 - 2020, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
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.
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. “Pleasure and Prestige: The Complex History of Collecting Flemish Art in America.” In America and the Art of Flanders: Collecting Paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Their Circles, edited by Esmée Quodbach. The Frick Collection Studies in the History of Art Collecting in America 5. University Park, 2020: 17, 138 color fig. 80.
Libby, Alexandra. “From Personal Treasures to Public Gifts: The Flemish Painting Collection at the National Gallery of Art.” In America and the Art of Flanders: Collecting Paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and their Circles, edited by Esmée Quodbach. The Frick Collection Studies in the History of Art Collecting in America 5. University Park, 2020: 130, 132, 138 color fi. 80, 139, 140, 188 nt. 39.
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.
Wikidata ID
Q8353711