Currently not on view
Descent from the Cross by Torchlight,
1654
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606–1669; born Leiden, Netherlands; died Amsterdam, Netherlands
x1969-313
Darkness—rendered with a dense network of etched lines—descends like a thick curtain in Rembrandt’s nocturnal staging of the moment—mentioned only briefly in biblical accounts—when Jesus’s body was taken down from the cross by his followers Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Only one light source—a torch held above Christ’s right foot, still attached to the cross—fitfully illuminates the complex chain of action, which includes a spectral hand reaching up out of the shadows to offer assistance.
Information
Title
Descent from the Cross by Torchlight
Dates
1654
Maker
Medium
Etching and drypoint
Dimensions
sheet trimmed to plate: 21 x 16.3 cm. (8 1/4 x 6 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of David H. McAlpin, Class of 1920, and Mrs. McAlpin, in memory of Professor Clifton R. Hall
Object Number
x1969-313
Place Made
Europe, Netherlands
Inscription
Signed in plate: Rembrandt f. 1654
Reference Numbers
Bartsch 83; Biörklund and Barnard 54; Hind 280; Hollstein 46; Münz 232; New Hollstein 245.286
Materials
Techniques
Subject
- E. F. Gersaint and Adam von Bartsch, Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l’oeuvre de Rembrandt et ceux de ses principaux imitateurs (Vienne: A Blumauer, 1797)., 124
- Ludwig Münz, Rembrandt's Etchings: Reproductions of the Whole Original Etched Work (London: Phaidon Press, 1952)., no. 48
- George Biörklund and Osbart H. Barnard, Rembrandt's Etchings, True and False (Stockholm, New York [etc.], 1968)., no. 34
-
F.W.H. Hollstein, “Rembrandt,” Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700 (Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1969).
, no. 23 - "Acquisitions 1969", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 29, no. 1 (1970): p. 16-27., p. 23
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Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers, Ger Luijten, ed., "Rembrandt," New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700 (Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers ; Amsterdam: In co-operation with the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, 2013).
, no. 135, p. 215 - Arthur Mayger Hind, Rembrandt's etchings: an essay and a catalogue, with some notes on the drawings (New York: Scribner, 1912)., 141
