Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses'
1653-c.1660
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Prints
Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses', 1653-c.1660. Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669). Drypoint; sheet: 37.5 x 44 cm (14 3/4 x 17 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Ralph King and Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1959.241 Rembrandt’s Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves is executed entirely in drypoint. Because of the delicacy of the technique, the copper plate was worn after the artist printed about 40 impressions of the first three states. In order to continue using the plate, Rembrandt reworked it, changing the image somewhat. In this fourth state, slashing strokes obscure the spectators visible in the earlier version, creating a tenebrous setting that focuses attention on Christ bathed in celestial light. Although drypoint is an inherently linear medium, Rembrandt used it to obtain tonal qualities associated with painting. The blackness becomes an active force that threatens to extinguish the light of Christ—a literal illustration of the Evangelist Luke’s description of the event that brought "a darkness over all the earth."
- Maker/Artist
- Rembrandt van Rijn
- Classification
- Formatted Medium
- drypoint
- Medium
- drypoint
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 37.5 x 44 cm (14 3/4 x 17 5/16 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: VERSO, lower left, in graphite: 301 C ; lower left, in graphite: 21805 ; lower left, in graphite: [?]35 ; lower left, in pen and brown ink: #[turned 45% with dots top, bottom, and at the two sides] ://:
- Departments
- Prints
- Accession Number
- 1959.241
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Ralph King and Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Exhibitions
- Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection, Old Master Prints and Drawings, Eight Masters of the Print, Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Graphics, Prints by Rembrandt and His Circle, Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum, Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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