Nicola di Maestro Antonio d'Ancona, Scenes from the Life of King Nebuchadnezzar

Late 15th/early 16th century
Tempera on wood, embossed and gilt ornament
Metropolitan Museum of Art, acquisition 08.133

In Daniel 4:1-30 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon dreams of the cutting down of a tree. None of his advisors can interpret the dream except Daniel, who foretells that Nebuchadnezzar will be cast from his throne and end up like a beast of the field, eating grass like an ox. The prophecy does prove true, as illustrated in this chest frontal. In the first panel the king consults his advisors. In the second, his people drive him out of the city, and in the third he kneels on the ground to eat grass.

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Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.