Lot Essay
'Pilate saith unto them, what then shall I do unto Jesus which is called Christ? They all say, Let him be crucified' (Matthew XXVII, 22). Rembrandt follows closely the account of the Presentation of Christ given by Saint Matthew. Christ is as yet unscourged and without a crown of thorns, the traditional depiction which follows the chronology given by Saint John. Other elelements of Saint Matthew's account have been suggested. The woman appearing at the window upper left may be Pilats's wife hwo has just sent a messenger to her husband, 'And while he was sitting on the judgement-seat, his wife sent unto him saying, Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream becuase of him' (Matthew XXVII, 19). On the left of the dais stands an attendant ready to offer Pilate the water with which to cleanse his hands and between Pilate and Christ stands the as yet unreleased Barabas.
Christ presented to the People from 1655 is one of Rembrandt's two Masterpieces which together with the Three Crosses (B. 781) show the artist at the height of his dramatic, emotional and technical powers.
The composition whereby Christ is elevated on a stage-like setting beneath which in the foreground stands the multitude to whom he is being presented may have its source in the Ecce Homo (B. 71) by Lucas van Leyden. However, whereas van Leyden places and almost loses the group of Christ, Pilate and attendant soldiers in a wide, deep and extensive architectural setting, Rembrandt concentrates the episode into a limited space dominated by a single massive biulding whose strong vertical and horizontal lines contribute to the solemnity and gravity of the subject.
The copper plate underwent considerable changes in the eight states recorded by Hollstein. The present example shows the composition in its final state. The plate has been reduced at the top thereby focusing even more on the figure of Christ.
The most striking alteration, however, is the re removal of the crowd grouped below the tribune in the foreground and their replacement by the two dark cellar arches. By doing so Rembradt seems to point to the tragic developments which are about to follow. This impression is comparable with the superb impression of the eighth state in the British Museum.
Christ presented to the People from 1655 is one of Rembrandt's two Masterpieces which together with the Three Crosses (B. 781) show the artist at the height of his dramatic, emotional and technical powers.
The composition whereby Christ is elevated on a stage-like setting beneath which in the foreground stands the multitude to whom he is being presented may have its source in the Ecce Homo (B. 71) by Lucas van Leyden. However, whereas van Leyden places and almost loses the group of Christ, Pilate and attendant soldiers in a wide, deep and extensive architectural setting, Rembrandt concentrates the episode into a limited space dominated by a single massive biulding whose strong vertical and horizontal lines contribute to the solemnity and gravity of the subject.
The copper plate underwent considerable changes in the eight states recorded by Hollstein. The present example shows the composition in its final state. The plate has been reduced at the top thereby focusing even more on the figure of Christ.
The most striking alteration, however, is the re removal of the crowd grouped below the tribune in the foreground and their replacement by the two dark cellar arches. By doing so Rembradt seems to point to the tragic developments which are about to follow. This impression is comparable with the superb impression of the eighth state in the British Museum.