Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch draughtsman, painter and printmaker. He was born in Leiden in 1606 and died in 1669.
I have been asked to look at his Etchings called 'Descent From The Cross'. So i began searching...
In 1633 Rembrandt produced several painted and etched versions of this subject. When i began researching at first i was very confused because i could not find a lot of information about it.
The first image i came across was this one:
This is a dry point etching, it is the moment when Christ's body is being released from the cross. I love the strong contrast between light and dark in this! and the light shining down from from the sky onto the cross and his body, illuminating it, it is beautiful. Christ's body look so tiny compared to the figures around him and the way Rembrandt has captured the lifelessness of his body is very powerful and really captures the tragedy of this bible story.
The figures surrounding his scene are etched beautifully, the faces look, to me, frightened, sad and other look completely un emotional. Some of the other figures and lying on the ground, mourning and submerged in shadow.
The twisting figure of christ and the sculptural forms of the men on the cross is stunning and gives me a huge sense of sorrow.The texture is unreal, i am a bit shocked by it as i did not know how much like a painting an etching could look.
The figure to the left in the hat watching this dramatic scene makes this etching even more emotional because he is so unemotional,but then when i was researching this i found this painting:
I was obviously intrigued by this because of the similarity with the etching so i researched this paintings. I found out it he was commissioned to make 5 paintings of the passion of Christ and are referred to as the Passion series. The 5 paintings are , the decent from the cross, the raising of the cross, the ascension, the entombment and the resurrection. I found out from there that the etching i have above is based on this painting, and is suggested it was a continuation of this series that never came to full fruition.
Knowing this i really do prefer the etching, i think it captures the emotion much better than the painting, the shadow in the painting is stronger, but the light shining down from the sky in the etching is, to me, much more effective. The skill in this is absolutely amazing, the detail in the etching is the same amount of detail in the painting, it blows my mind!
I also found this one:
This one i found very dark, in both senses. Obviously the use of dense etched lines, parts so dark you cant see any detail But also the torch being the only source of light, being help above Christ's right foot, still attached to the cross brings me a feeling of despair.
I really like the hand to the right and just under Jesus's head, coming out of the darkness and the way he has etched the light on the hand is beautiful.
The emotion he is capable of capturing is just breath taking, it gives me a huge sense of the chaos in this one moment, it is telling a full story in a single still image. Very powerful stuff.
I have been asked to look at his Etchings called 'Descent From The Cross'. So i began searching...
In 1633 Rembrandt produced several painted and etched versions of this subject. When i began researching at first i was very confused because i could not find a lot of information about it.
The first image i came across was this one:
 | |
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This is a dry point etching, it is the moment when Christ's body is being released from the cross. I love the strong contrast between light and dark in this! and the light shining down from from the sky onto the cross and his body, illuminating it, it is beautiful. Christ's body look so tiny compared to the figures around him and the way Rembrandt has captured the lifelessness of his body is very powerful and really captures the tragedy of this bible story.
The figures surrounding his scene are etched beautifully, the faces look, to me, frightened, sad and other look completely un emotional. Some of the other figures and lying on the ground, mourning and submerged in shadow.
The twisting figure of christ and the sculptural forms of the men on the cross is stunning and gives me a huge sense of sorrow.The texture is unreal, i am a bit shocked by it as i did not know how much like a painting an etching could look.
The figure to the left in the hat watching this dramatic scene makes this etching even more emotional because he is so unemotional,but then when i was researching this i found this painting:
 |
The Descent from the Cross, 1633,Oil on canvas |
Knowing this i really do prefer the etching, i think it captures the emotion much better than the painting, the shadow in the painting is stronger, but the light shining down from the sky in the etching is, to me, much more effective. The skill in this is absolutely amazing, the detail in the etching is the same amount of detail in the painting, it blows my mind!
I also found this one:
 |
Descent from the Cross by Torchlight, 1654 |
I really like the hand to the right and just under Jesus's head, coming out of the darkness and the way he has etched the light on the hand is beautiful.
The emotion he is capable of capturing is just breath taking, it gives me a huge sense of the chaos in this one moment, it is telling a full story in a single still image. Very powerful stuff.
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