"Daniel in the Lions' Den"

Rubens modeled the lions on a Moroccan subspecies, examples of which were then in the Spanish governor's menagerie in Brussels. In 1618, he acquired more than a hundred pieces of classical sculpture, in exchange for this painting, eight others, and a sum of money.

The painting shows Daniel as a young man. However, according to Biblical chronology, Daniel would have been over eighty years old at the time of the incident.