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6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

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Featured exhibition:

Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World
Now on view
Art & Artists
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Closed today

Visit
Closed today
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Only have an hour to spend?

We've got you covered.
Exhibitions & Events
Featured exhibition:

Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World
Now on view
Art & Artists
Artle

A refreshed experience for our puzzle game
Today's puzzle

Audio Tour Stop 605

Daniel in the Lions' Den, Sir Peter Paul Rubens

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 45

Part of Kids West Building Tour: Featured Selections

Daniel in the Lions' Den (English)

A nearly nude, muscular man with pale, peachy skin sits in an underground cave among seven male and two female lions in this horizontal painting. The man sits to our right of center with his legs crossed, elbows close to his body with hands clasped by his chest. His head tips back to look up through a small opening above. He has long, wavy, chestnut-brown hair and dark eyes. A white cloth wraps across his hips, and he sits on a scarlet-red swath of fabric draped up over a rock next to him. The nine lions stalk, sit, or lie down around the man. One male lion next to the man, to our left, opens his mouth with his head thrown back, curling tongue extended beyond long fangs. A human skull and other bones are strewn on the dirt ground close to us. The rocky cave curves up around the animals and man to a narrow, round opening showing blue sky above. — Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Daniel in the Lions' Den, c. 1614/1616, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1965.13.1

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