The Prophet Habakkuk and the Angel

The panel depicts a rarely represented episode from one of the apocryphal chapters of the biblical Book of Daniel (14:32-35). While taking food to workers in a field, the prophet Habakkuk is interrupted by an angel who instructs him to deliver the meal instead to Daniel trapped in the lions’ den in Babylon. Here the encounter between Habakkuk and the angel is depicted in the foreground, the prophet holds a large bowl with high handles, and reapers are shown in the middle ground. The two figures are seen again at the top of the composition with the angel holding Habbakuk by the hair while carrying him to the city of Babylon, seen in the background. This panel was probably one of a series by Wouter Crabeth illustrating episodes from the Book of Daniel. Wouter and his elder brother Dirck were the most famous Netherlandish glass painters of the sixteenth century, admired especially for their windows produced for the Sint Janskerk at Gouda.