Rijksmuseum

De graflegging over een schets van een beul

Date

c. 1640 - c. 1641

Medium

paper, ink

Culture

Amsterdam

Institution

Rijksmuseum

This expressive drawing shows how Rembrandt translated his observations of human suffering into the biblical stories he depicted. Christ is truly dead: his body is stiff, and his hair hangs down. The men who carry the cloth with the corpse display visible exertion. Rembrandt initially used this sheet for a sketch of an executioner whose head and arms can still be discerned at the left of the curtain.

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