Descent from the Cross by Rembrandt van Rijn was created in 1634. The painting is in Hermitage Museum St Petersburg. The size of the work is 158 x 117 cm and is made of oil on canvas.
Like other paintings by Rembrandt on Christian subjects, The Descent from the Cross was not intended for a church, as in Protestant Holland places of worship were not decorated with painting or sculpture. This is a subject that was tackled by all the greatest masters of Western European painting and they each interpreted it in their own way. Rembrandt’s canvas, created in 1634 not to a commission but from personal inspiration, reflected his prolonged strenuous meditations on the biblical text. It seems as if the artist saw with his own eyes the motley crowd that gathered on Golgotha and silently watched as the disciples removed Jesus’ body from the Cross. Read more in Hermitage Museum.
About the Artist: Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman Rembrandt was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the Dutch Republic, now the Netherlands. As a boy, he attended a Latin school. At the age of 13, he was enrolled at the University of Leiden, although according to a contemporary he had a greater inclination towards painting. In 1624 or 1625, Rembrandt opened a studio in Leiden, which he shared with friend and colleague Jan Lievens. In 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, which included Gerrit Dou in 1628 and Isaac de Jouderville… Read more
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