Martin, John "Belshazzar’s Feast"
Martin, John "Belshazzar’s Feast"
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Martin, John "Belshazzar’s Feast"

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John Martin (1789-1854).  “Belshazzar’s Feast.” 

London: John Martin, 1832. 18 3/8 x 28 1/4 (image) plus wide margins.    Mezzotint engraving with etching. Engraved by the artist.  One repaired tear just into image at bottom.  Small hole in image.  Else, very good condition.  

“Belshazzar’s Feast,” was Martin’s most successful composition.  The painting on which the print is based was exhibited in 1821 at the British Institution, where it had to be roped off to protect it from huge crowds.  This was also the subject of his first mezzotint, which was published in 1826, but the plate had worn so much that the artist re-engraved the subject in 1832.  It is, indeed, a marvelous image in which Martin successfully combined a vast architectural extravaganza with a myriad of dramatic details and a skillful blending of artificial, natural, and supernatural light.

The event, or actually the series of events, is set down in the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel.  At a banquet for a thousand lords, Belshazzar ordered the treasures stolen from the temple in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to be brought out and used.  Some of the vessels of silver and gold are displayed on the table in the foreground and stacked directly in front of it.  During the banquet a hand appeared and wrote on the palace wall.  Unable to interpret the writing, Belshazzar consulted his wise men, but they, too, could not understand it.  Daniel was then called in, and he presented the following interpretation.

And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.
This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom,
and finished it.
Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Peres; Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.
                                                                                                Daniel 5:25-28

For this climactic moment Martin gave Daniel a position of authority by placing him center stage.  Although he is not significantly larger than the other figures, his purposeful gesture and broad verticality stress the prophet’s strength and resolve in contrast to the cowering Chaldeans who gesticulate in fear and distress.  Amidst this spectacle of huge architectural spaces, infinite detail, and violent contrasts of light and dark, Daniel stands firmly at the apex of a pyramid formed by the foreground figures.     J. Dustin Wees, Darkness Visible. The Prints of John Martin: 37-8.