828832 Nebuchadnezzar, 1795 (tempera, pen & ink and w/c on paper) by Blake, William (1757-1827); 43x60.3 cm; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN, USA; (add.info.: Nebuchadnezzar II (c.634 ??562 BC) was king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who reigned c. 605 BC ??562 BC. He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and for the destruction of the First Temple. He is featured in the Book of Daniel and is mentioned in several other books of the Bible. While boasting about his achievements, Nebuchadnezzar is humbled by God. The king loses his sanity and lives in the wild like an animal for seven years. After this, his sanity and position are restored and he praises and honors God. There has been some speculation on what the organic cause of this insanity might have been. Some consider it to be an attack of clinical lycanthropy or alternatively porphyria.); 穢 Minneapolis Institute of Art; English, out of copyright.