Lot 295: JACOB WILLEMSZ. DE WET

JACOB WILLEMSZ. DE WET CIRCA 1610-HAARLEM BEFORE 1691 SHADRACH, MESHACH AND ABEDNEGO IN THE FIERY FURNACE indistinctly signed lower right oil on canvas 43 by 53 1/2 in.; 110 by 136 cm.

Private collection, Austria, until 2009.

The subject is taken from Daniel 3:12-26, and tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, three Hebrew men who refuse to bow to an idol erected by King Nebuchadnezzar. As retaliation, Nebuchadnezzar sentences the three men to death by fire, but when they are cast into the flames, they are seen walking around painlessly with a fourth man, possibly an angel who protects them. Miraculously they are unharmed by the flames and in his shock, Nebuchadnezzar decrees that anyone who speaks against the God of Shadrach, Mesahach, and Abednego will be killed and their home destroyed.

Another work of the same subject by de Wet was sold, New York, Sotheby's, 7 April 1989, lot 142.