Naboth Falsely Accused by Two Witnesses

The story of Ahab, Naboth, Jezebel, and Elijah from the Book of Kings serves as the textual basis for this action-packed print, engraved after designs by Maerten van Heemskerck. It traces the story of the crime and punishment of Queen Jezebel, who conspired to murder a man named Naboth after he refused to sell a plot of land to her husband, King Ahab. In response, Jezebel had Naboth falsely accused with the sin of cursing God and the King. Ahab then claimed Naboth's land, until the prophet Elijah warned him of God's anger at this. More than many artists of his time, excepting those who made illustrations for bibles, Maerten van Heemskerck turned time and again to the stories of the Old Testament as the subject matter for his drawings.