Flemish Tapestry: The Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace

At the end of the 16th century, Canon Jeroni Garau donated a set of twelve tapestries to the Cathedral of Mallorca. He acquired them in Rome in the mid-16th century, and they were probably woven in Brussels workshops. Of the twelve tapestries, eleven are religious in theme and one secular. They represent three series of biblical iconography: the story of Nebuchadnezzar, the story of Jacob, and the story of Tobias.

This tapestry depicts Nebuchadnezzar with his advisors in the foreground and, in the background, the three young men condemned to be burned alive in the furnace. The young Jewish men—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azeris—had defied King Nebuchadnezzar's order to bow down and worship the idol he had commissioned. The king, furious, ordered them thrown into the furnace, where they were miraculously saved thanks to the protection of an angel who accompanied them.