tour 10 of 11
Rembrandt the printmaker
Rembrandt van Rijn, Christ presented to the People, a drypoint
This imposing image represents a high point in
Rembrandt's career as a printmaker. He has organized his
complex subject into three horizontal and three vertical bands. In
the centre, three figures stand under a dark arch. Pontius Pilate
gestures towards Christ on his left, while between them stands the
squat figure of Barabbas, on whom the story turns. Pilate asks the
crowd if they want Jesus or the bandit Barabbas to be released.
'Barabbas!', they reply (John 18:39-40). Rembrandt
concentrates our attention on the human drama and enlarges the
scale of Christ, Barabbas and Pilate, so that the story unfolds
with a great sense of
drama.
A
drypoint
plate deteriorates quickly during printing, and Rembrandt responded
by printing only a few
impressions
before reworking the plate. Eight
states
of this plate have been recognized. Astonishingly, in state VI he
burnished out the animated crowd below the central platform, and
replaced them with two cavern-like arches. The whole composition
now focuses on the stage.