Jesus stands in the middle with his hands raised, light streaming from round his head against the dark rock.
Bible in art · Matthew
Christ Preaching (The Hundred Guilder Print)
Rembrandt · c. 1643/1649
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Rembrandt worked on this large etching through the 1640s and finished it around 1649. Its nickname, the Hundred Guilder Print, comes from the high price an impression was said to fetch even in his lifetime.
Instead of one moment he gathers much of Matthew 19 around Jesus: the sick lying and kneeling on the right, mothers with small children in front, and learned men arguing on the left. The left side is only lightly drawn; the right sinks into deep, velvety shadow.
From the text
- “Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there” (Matthew 19:2)
- Pharisees who came to test Him (Matthew 19:3)
- Little children brought to Jesus, and the disciples rebuking those who brought them (Matthew 19:13)
- “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them!” (Matthew 19:14)
The artist’s own
- Several scenes of the chapter in one place, as if happening at once
- The crowd as people of Rembrandt’s Amsterdam — turbans, fur caps, a sick woman in a wheelbarrow
- A burst of light around Jesus’ head, as painters marked a holy figure
- A small dog in the foreground
Details
In the light
Bringing a baby
A woman, seen from behind, brings her baby towards Jesus; the bearded disciple beside him reaches out to stop her.
The wheelbarrow
A sick woman is brought in on a wheelbarrow; an old man leans on his stick beside it.
Arguing
Learned men in caps and turbans argue among themselves, drawn with only a few light lines.
A dog
A small dog noses at the ground in front of the crowd.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Gift of R. Horace Gallatin, 1949.1.48) · Etching, drypoint and burin on European (white) paper · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)