01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Rembrandt's The Great Deposition from the Cross - with footnotes #197

Rembrandt van Rijn

The Great Deposition from the Cross

Oil on canvas. Relined

158 cm (62.2 in); width: 117 cm (46 in)

The New Hermitage

The Descent from the Cross, or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion. In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the 10th century. The Descent from the Cross is the 13th Station of the Cross.

 

Other figures not mentioned in the Gospels who are often included in depictions of this subject include St. John the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted supporting a fainting Mary, and Mary Magdalene. The Gospels mention an undefined number of women as watching the crucifixion, including the Three Marys and Mary Salome.  More on Deposition of Christ

In the center of the painting, surrounded by divine rays, there is the large and superior cross, on which Christ met his death. On its crossbars there are still remains of blood as a sign of Christ's torture. The cross is surrounded by six helpers, who bring down Christ's body from the cross with the help of a large white cloth. All of them concentrate on Christ in the center of the scene. Due to his white skin and surrounded by the white cloth he is directly the center of attention of the painting. The corpulent Jewish councilman, Joseph of Arimathia, who wears an oriental robe consisting of a cloak and a large turban, stands to the right and observes the scene. On the right there are two more male observers and next to a repoussoir figure there are Saint Mary Magdalene and Mary, who wears a blue cloak and whose face is hidden. Besides the light center the soft blue of Mary's coat is the only other illuminated spot in the painting. In the foreground a heavy, patterned cloth is kept available in order to wrap Christ into it. In the background on the left there is the destroyed temple of Jerusalem. On the right there is a bone as a hint to the site of Calvary where the cross had been erected on the grave of Adam. However, the entire background is darkened and the motifs are barely recognizable.

Rembrandt emphasises the human and suffering features of Christ Crucified in his version of the subject. An inverted etching of the painting by Rembrandt with minor variations can be dated 1633. The painter of this picture presumably knew that print, possibly he also knew the Deposition from the Cross by Rembrandt himself, and chose it as a model. He was familiar with Rembrandt's Chiaroscuro painting and its dramatic effects as well as with his preference for oriental costumes. More on this painting

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the Dutch Golden Age when Dutch Golden Age painting, although in many ways antithetical to the Baroque style that dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative, and gave rise to important new genres in painting.

 

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified most notably in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.

 

In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization." More on Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

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