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Lot Essay
More than any other plate in Rembrandt’s oeuvre, The Entombment has been the object of his experimental approach to printmaking in the later years. Not only did he alter the plate drastically between the first and the second state, he also chose different supports - from European paper to Chinese and Japanese papers to vellum – from one impression to another, and manipulated each pull by leaving varying degrees of plate tone and wiping the tone selectively to modify the illumination and pick out different highlights. Of the later states, virtually no two impressions look the same, as Christopher White pointed out: ‘…the dark metamorphoses offer a highly personal vision employing all the chance methods at an artist’s command, with each impression as unique as a monotype.’ (White, 1999, p. 95)
Within the biblical narrative, The Entombment follows on from Christ crucified between the two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses' (see previous lot), where we see Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in the foreground hastening towards the future burial place of the body of Christ. Now, they have brought Him to the tomb, depicted here as a vaulted cave or chapel, where the body is now being lowered into the grave. The first state is in pure etching, the shading and modelling of the space and the figures rendered in regularly and openly spaced hatchings, with strong lines of equal weight (see ill.). Although darkness and light are suggested, the whole scene is clearly discernible. We see Joseph of Arimathea standing at left above the sunken grave, the Virgin is sitting to his feet, her hands clasped in sorrow, a group of other grieving women is huddled behind her. Three men are lowering the body into the grave, a fourth one has climbed down to support it from below. The light seems to come from a lamp covered by the foremost figure – or is perhaps emanating from the dead Christ Himself. Above this mournful scene – pushed into the lower left corner of the image, thereby reflecting the act of the entombment – we see the arch of the cavern, with two skulls resting on a ledge. Behind this gruesome memento mori, the space recedes into darkness. Already in the second state, Rembrandt obscured the composition considerably with dense hatching in drypoint and engraving, turning it into a truly nocturnal scene, and made it even darker in the subsequent states. The present example is a very fine and tonal impression of the fourth, final state on white European paper. It demonstrates perfectly what interested Rembrandt in his experiments with this plate: how to depict a scene in a minimally lit space.
To see this print is an astonishing experience, not unlike entering a lightless room and having to wait for the eyes to adapt to the gloom. The enclosed space is more felt than seen and the figures on the left are almost swallowed up by the darkness. The figures of Virgin, Joseph of Arimathea and the men supporting the corpse are covered with tone, which thickens incrementally towards the edges of the grave, leaving them barely visible in a dim twilight. Only on the body of Christ, especially His chest, Rembrandt selectively and very gently reduced the plate tone, creating a faint highlight, suggesting a lamp or torch hidden from our view, held by the man in the foreground seen from behind. This highlight not only 'illuminates' the scene and draws the viewer's attention towards the fulcrum of the event. It also symbolizes the hope that is at the core of the sacrifice of Christ. Rembrandt knew the bible well and this may be a visual reference to John 1:5: 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.' As in all of his best works, the form and content correspond perfectly, as the darkness of the image reflects the spiritual somberness of the occasion, and yet it contains a shimmer of light, however faint.
The present sheet comes from the collection of the English connoisseur Edward Vernon Utterson, praised by Frits Lugt: 'Son goût et son choix furent excellents.' This impression keeps a fine balance between what is visible and invisible, between the narrative and the nocturnal atmosphere, and leaves the viewer in wonder at Rembrandt’s exploration of the border between light and darkness.
Within the biblical narrative, The Entombment follows on from Christ crucified between the two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses' (see previous lot), where we see Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in the foreground hastening towards the future burial place of the body of Christ. Now, they have brought Him to the tomb, depicted here as a vaulted cave or chapel, where the body is now being lowered into the grave. The first state is in pure etching, the shading and modelling of the space and the figures rendered in regularly and openly spaced hatchings, with strong lines of equal weight (see ill.). Although darkness and light are suggested, the whole scene is clearly discernible. We see Joseph of Arimathea standing at left above the sunken grave, the Virgin is sitting to his feet, her hands clasped in sorrow, a group of other grieving women is huddled behind her. Three men are lowering the body into the grave, a fourth one has climbed down to support it from below. The light seems to come from a lamp covered by the foremost figure – or is perhaps emanating from the dead Christ Himself. Above this mournful scene – pushed into the lower left corner of the image, thereby reflecting the act of the entombment – we see the arch of the cavern, with two skulls resting on a ledge. Behind this gruesome memento mori, the space recedes into darkness. Already in the second state, Rembrandt obscured the composition considerably with dense hatching in drypoint and engraving, turning it into a truly nocturnal scene, and made it even darker in the subsequent states. The present example is a very fine and tonal impression of the fourth, final state on white European paper. It demonstrates perfectly what interested Rembrandt in his experiments with this plate: how to depict a scene in a minimally lit space.
To see this print is an astonishing experience, not unlike entering a lightless room and having to wait for the eyes to adapt to the gloom. The enclosed space is more felt than seen and the figures on the left are almost swallowed up by the darkness. The figures of Virgin, Joseph of Arimathea and the men supporting the corpse are covered with tone, which thickens incrementally towards the edges of the grave, leaving them barely visible in a dim twilight. Only on the body of Christ, especially His chest, Rembrandt selectively and very gently reduced the plate tone, creating a faint highlight, suggesting a lamp or torch hidden from our view, held by the man in the foreground seen from behind. This highlight not only 'illuminates' the scene and draws the viewer's attention towards the fulcrum of the event. It also symbolizes the hope that is at the core of the sacrifice of Christ. Rembrandt knew the bible well and this may be a visual reference to John 1:5: 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.' As in all of his best works, the form and content correspond perfectly, as the darkness of the image reflects the spiritual somberness of the occasion, and yet it contains a shimmer of light, however faint.
The present sheet comes from the collection of the English connoisseur Edward Vernon Utterson, praised by Frits Lugt: 'Son goût et son choix furent excellents.' This impression keeps a fine balance between what is visible and invisible, between the narrative and the nocturnal atmosphere, and leaves the viewer in wonder at Rembrandt’s exploration of the border between light and darkness.