Balaam in Bedlam

Balaam in Bedlam Commentary by Bridget Nichols Cite Share Show Bible Passage Rembrandt van Rijn produced his painting of Balaam and the Angel in 1626, four years after his teacher Peter Lastman had addressed the same subject. Rembrandt introduced a dynamism into his composition that was lacking in Lastman’s by organising all the figures as players in a real-time drama. The angel moves from the right of the canvas to the left, and stands behind the prophet, his sword about to descend. The Moabite representatives move from a distant position to participate in the action. Balaam’s two young servants stand as shadowy presences between them and Balaam on the ass. Rembrandt’s treatment has elements of sheer comic hyperbole—in Bruce Bernard’s words, ‘the extrovert miller’s son amusing himself’ (Bernard 1988: 282). He has exploited the motif of sight to the full: the professional seer does not see the angel, yet the female animal does, as her wide-open eyes bear witness. Balaam’s eyes, by contrast, are small dark cavities. What the Moabites and the servants see is cause for embarrassment and consternation. The man who has set out in expensive clothing made of rich fabrics and trimmed with fur is suddenly flailing about on the back of a collapsed donkey, having lost a shoe. Dressed in sober colours, the three turbaned Moabites behind him, one mounted on a well-bred horse and appearing to look down his nose, are eloquent simply by their presence. Should they be surprised? The leather satchel, bulging with papers and a wooden staff, has all the signs that any available aids to divination have been hastily stuffed into it. The angel is a commanding presence almost against the odds. His muscular build is flimsily covered by a precariously attached white garment and he wears exaggerated wings suggestive of a great bird of prey. The ass is captured in the act of speech, fearful of the blow about to descend on her, yet defiant. The detail of her furry ears and the ruff running the length of her throat perhaps nods to the fur trim on Balaam’s sleeve. Who speaks and sees truly in this story of a prophet? References Bernard, Bruce. 1988. The Bible and Its Painters (London & Sydney: Mcdonald Orbis)