The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
Virgil Solis, 1565 · Daniel 3:1
The passage
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
Daniel 3:1
About this woodcut
The furnace erupts on the left in a great burst of flame, and inside it three small figures stand upright with a fourth beside them. The men who threw them in are falling backwards out of the fire. On the right, in perfect calm, the king and his officers stand in fur-trimmed robes and elaborate hats, watching.
The picture is split down the middle into fire and court dress. Solis spends as much line on the officials clothing as on the miracle, and they are drawn as the wealthy men of his own city. The contrast is the argument: on one side a furnace, on the other a group of well-dressed men who ordered it and are not going to be harmed by it.
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