Christ Carried to the Tomb
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), Christ Carried to the Tomb, etching and drypoint, 1645. Reference: Bartsch 84, only state [signed in the plate]. In good condition apart from a repaired tear at the plate mark (weakened when printed on the unburnished plate and continuing in the margin lower left), with unusually wide margins, on an old laid paper with a Foolscap with Five Pointed Collar watermark (cf. Hinterding 231, dated to about 1651). 5 1/4 x 4 3/8, the sheet 7 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches, archival matting with window mat.
A fine clear impression, with a few touches of burr at bottom left and on figures. We estimate that this fine lifetime impression was printed (consistent with the watermark) somewhat after the earliest printings. Rembrandt ordinarily printed plates over the course of a long period. This print is rare; there are no records of posthumous printings of this plate, and the plate is not known to have existed after Rembrandt’s death.
In this stately funeral procession the stretcher bearers carry the body holding strips of cloth that loop around their shoulders and pass under the stretcher to support it. They move toward a rocky tomb - the cave on the left, where women mourners can be seen in this impression through a weave of cross-hatching which tends to obscure them. The cave was provided by the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea – all four evangelists describe his claiming of Christ’s body, his wrapping of the body in fine linen, and its burial in the cave/tomb.