The body lies on a slab, lit from below.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Entombment
Rembrandt · c. 1654
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Rembrandt reworked this plate of about 1654 several times, covering it with fine hatching, and printed it with more or less ink left on the surface, so that each impression is a different night.
In a dark vault the body is laid on a stone slab, lit from below. Men bend over it, a woman sits with her hand to her face, and an old man leaning on a staff looks on.
From the text
- Joseph “placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock” (Matthew 27:60)
- Mary Magdalene and the other Mary “sitting there opposite the tomb” (Matthew 27:61)
The artist’s own
- A high vaulted room like a crypt
- A hidden light casting its glow up onto the faces
Details
The body
Mourning
A seated woman covers her mouth with her hand.
The old man
An old bearded man leans on a staff and watches.
The vault
A great dark arch closes over the scene.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7163) · Etching, drypoint and burin · 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)