Vision of Zacharias in the Temple

The priest Zacharias is busy in the temple when he suddenly notices something strange. It is the archangel Gabriel, who has joyful news: Zacharias' wife Elisabeth will soon become pregnant.

Like Zacharias, Elisabeth is quite elderly, making him quite incredulous. Disbelief is written all over his face. The angel then silences him. Not until the child is born will Zacharias speak again. The angel also tells him what to name the child: John.

Rembrandt leaves the angel out of the picture, allowing the viewer to focus solely on the speechless Zacharias. He also suggests that it could just as well have been a vision as an actual appearance of the angel.

The gospel of Luke mentions that the angel was "standing on the right side of the altar of incense". Rembrandt did depict that altar. It is covered with a cloth, and a censer stands on it.

In 1960, the oak panel was dismissed as a Rembrandt work. It was then long thought to be possibly by Jan Lievens. The long-running Rembrandt Research Project also deemed it not a Rembrandt. In 2023, the owner requested an investigation from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Using modern techniques, it was determined that the painting was indeed a genuine Rembrandt.