Daniel's Left Hand, for "Belshazzar's Feast" 1817

Curator: This delicate graphite study, "Daniel's Left Hand, for 'Belshazzar's Feast'", is by Washington Allston. It's currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: There's a certain vulnerability to this lone hand, sketched so lightly on aged paper. It almost seems to float, disconnected. Curator: Allston was clearly grappling with how to convey the prophecy, the divine warning in his painting. Hands, especially, carry so much symbolic weight—power, action, judgement. Editor: Yes, and the fragility here almost amplifies that weight. Consider how often the hand appears in art to suggest destiny, fate… the hand of God, after all, is a recurring motif. Curator: Exactly. Allston zeroes in on this moment, this gesture. The hand becomes a vessel for that fear, that premonition. Editor: It's a nice reminder that even the grandest narratives distill down to these incredibly human, intimate details. Curator: Indeed, seeing this sketch brings that epic biblical story down to earth.