tour 9 of 11
Rembrandt the printmaker
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Entombment, an etching
This is one of a series of prints made by
Rembrandt in the 1650s that depict episodes from the life of
Christ. Here he was inspired by a drawing from the studio of the
Italian Renaissance master, Raphael, of which Rembrandt made a
copy, now in the Teyler Museum, Haarlem. From this he derived the
cavernous interior of the
tomb.
The bearded old man
standing on the left may be Joseph of Arimathaea, who gave up his
tomb for Christ. Below him, Mary's slumped frame carries
the curve of the design towards the limp body of her son, supported
by five men. One of them has jumped into the grave to lift the body
from below, while the bearded figure must be holding the lamp that
illuminates the scene. In the opposite corner, a group of mourning
women look away from this painful
sight.
The first
state
of the plate is entirely
etched,
with open, parallel
hatching.
Rembrandt printed several
impressions
on oriental paper, which produces an especially rich effect. He
then reworked the plate all over with
drypoint
and
burin,
plunging the scene into darkness. In the third state, he burnished
down the lines above the two skulls, forming a smaller arch beneath
the great vault. For each impression he inked and wiped the plate
differently, so that every one is virtually a unique work of art.
Some impressions are so dark that it appears as if the lamp has
been replaced by a flickering
candle.
Rembrandt's
realistic approach to the subject-matter is typical of his art, and
was widely influential.