Jesus stands on a step and speaks with both hands raised.
Bible in art · Matthew
Christ Preaching ('La Petite Tombe')
Rembrandt · c. 1652
The Cleveland Museum of Art
A small etching of about 1652, known by its old French nickname “La Petite Tombe”, usually explained by the name of a print dealer, Pieter de la Tombe. Its sketchy lines and dark, inked shadows set off the light figure in the middle.
Jesus stands on a low platform and speaks with both hands raised. Around him are ordinary people — old men, a woman with her children, a turbaned listener with hands behind his back — and in front a small boy sprawls on the floor.
From the text
- Jesus teaching and preaching among the people (Matthew 4:23)
- “The large crowds that followed Him” (Matthew 4:25)
The artist’s own
- A bare room with an archway onto a sunny street of houses
- A child playing on the floor, as children do in his crowd scenes
Details
Raised hands
On the floor
A small boy lies on his stomach, busy with his own game.
A listener
A seated man rests his chin in his hand and listens.
The doorway
Through an archway, a sunlit street of houses.
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669). The Cleveland Museum of Art (Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in honor of William Mathewson Milliken, 1958.306) · Etching, drypoint, and burin · Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: Collection API record "share_license_status": "CC0" (Creative Commons Zero, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).