.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
'When evening fell, there came a man of Arimathea, Joseph by name, who was a man of means and had himself become a man of Jesus. He approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave orders that he should have it. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen sheet, and laid it in his own unused tomb.' Matthew 27: 57-61.
This print is amongst the most melodramatic of all Rembrandt's prints, and the composition is highly original. The focus is not the centre, but the upper left, the foreground being dominated by the bier to the right of which Joseph of Arimathea is kneeling, having draped the sheet which would recieve Christ's body. As there is only one source of light - the torch held aloft by one of the men - attention is focused on the grisly detail of the nail through Christ's right foot. The man seen from behind is perfectly depicted, and one can almost feel the full weight of the body he is bearing. In a wonderful touch a hand comes out of the gloom to the right, as another man comes to his assistance.
The print belongs to a small group of mid-sized prints, all created in 1654, on the Life of Christ. It may be that Rembrandt envisaged a larger series, but the subjects he did realise are: Christ at Emmaus: The larger Plate, The Entombment, The Presentation in the Temple in the dark Manner and the present Descent from the Cross by Torchlight (New Hollstein 283-286). These four prints are characterised by an extensive use of drypoint and plate tone. In all of them, the depiction of light is at the formal challenge that Rembrandt set himself, be it the supernatural light emanating from the Redeemer Himself in Christ at Emmaus, the barely lit internal spaces in the Entombment and the Presentation, or the torchlight in the present plate, with the latter three being true night scenes.
Erik Hinterding does not record the Arms of Amsterdam-watermark for this print, but it is found on early impressions of The Ringball Player (NH 282) of the same year, and a variation of it is recorded for The Presentation in the Temple in the Dark Manner (NH 285).
This print is amongst the most melodramatic of all Rembrandt's prints, and the composition is highly original. The focus is not the centre, but the upper left, the foreground being dominated by the bier to the right of which Joseph of Arimathea is kneeling, having draped the sheet which would recieve Christ's body. As there is only one source of light - the torch held aloft by one of the men - attention is focused on the grisly detail of the nail through Christ's right foot. The man seen from behind is perfectly depicted, and one can almost feel the full weight of the body he is bearing. In a wonderful touch a hand comes out of the gloom to the right, as another man comes to his assistance.
The print belongs to a small group of mid-sized prints, all created in 1654, on the Life of Christ. It may be that Rembrandt envisaged a larger series, but the subjects he did realise are: Christ at Emmaus: The larger Plate, The Entombment, The Presentation in the Temple in the dark Manner and the present Descent from the Cross by Torchlight (New Hollstein 283-286). These four prints are characterised by an extensive use of drypoint and plate tone. In all of them, the depiction of light is at the formal challenge that Rembrandt set himself, be it the supernatural light emanating from the Redeemer Himself in Christ at Emmaus, the barely lit internal spaces in the Entombment and the Presentation, or the torchlight in the present plate, with the latter three being true night scenes.
Erik Hinterding does not record the Arms of Amsterdam-watermark for this print, but it is found on early impressions of The Ringball Player (NH 282) of the same year, and a variation of it is recorded for The Presentation in the Temple in the Dark Manner (NH 285).