The Crucifixion: Small Plate
Rembrandt Van Rijn
The Crucifixion: Small Plate
etching
c. 1635
An original Rembrandt Van Rijn etching.
c. 1635
Original etching printed in black ink on laid paper.
A superb 17th century/lifetime impression of Bartsch’s only state, Usticke’s first state of four, New Hollstein’s first state of three, printed prior to the addition of new lines in the shadowy areas such as the back of the cloak of the man in the lower foreground, the top of the cross and Christ’s side, characterized by G.W. Nowell-Usticke in his 1967 catalogue Rembrandt’s Etchings: States ands Values as “a common, very attractive little print.”
Catalog: Bartsch 80; Hind 123; Usticke 80 i/iv; New Hollstein 143 i/iii.
This etching depicts the dialogue between Christ and the Virgin, in which Christ enjoins his mother to treat John the Evangelist as a son (John 19:25-27).
John stands at the far left. The Virgin, lying in the arms of her friends, exchanges glances with Christ, who looks down at her from the cross. The groups of figures are carefully balanced against each other, with the dark figure seen from the rear forming the transition between right and left.
