Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Entombment

Rembrandt van Rijn

Date

c. 1654

Medium

Etching, drypoint, and burnishing on paper

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Several of his followers lower Christ's lifeless body into a grave within a dusky crypt with an arched ceiling. Several figures are gathered near, some of whom can be plausibly identified. The balding, bearded Peter is at Christ's right shoulder. At his feet, Mary sorrowfully bows her head in prayer. Joseph of Arimathea, who donated his own burial place to honor Jesus, leans on a staff. Behind him is Nicodemus, who offered an abundance of incense to anoint the body. Several men help lower the body: one at the head of the grave supports Jesus's upper body, the foreground figure supports him from beneath his thighs. Soft light baths Christ's body and those people close by. Other figures are nearly obscured by the darkness. On top of the wall above the grave, we can make out a few skulls. Rembrandt began this image as a fairly spare outline etching. After printing a small edition he returned to the copper plate, adding a dense network of lines to transform it into a nocturne. Leaving ink on the surface of his printing plate, he further explored possibilites beyond his etching, scratching, and burnishing to produce he the radiance that seems to eminate from the body of Christ. Netherlands, Europe

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