Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: The Three Crosses1653
A shaft of light pours down on the crucified Christ between the two thieves, illuminating the grieving figures at the foot of the cross, while darkness closes in at the edges. More about this work
About this work
A shaft of light pours down on the crucified Christ between the two thieves, illuminating the grieving figures at the foot of the cross, while darkness closes in at the edges. Rembrandt worked this large plate in drypoint, scratching directly into the copper, which produces rich, velvety lines but wears down quickly; he later reworked it dramatically, changing the composition. This impression is printed on vellum, which holds ink differently from paper and gives the dark passages a soft, glowing quality. It is among the most powerful religious images in printmaking.
Written by Ochre Editions.
How it was made
- Drypoint
- Lines scratched straight into the plate with a needle throw up a ridge of metal, the burr, which holds ink and prints a soft, furred line. The burr wears down, so early impressions are the richest.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Dutch, 1606–1669 · Born in Leiden; died in Amsterdam.
Rembrandt trained in Leiden and Amsterdam, settled in Amsterdam in the early 1630s and became the city’s most sought-after portraitist. His later work grows rougher and more searching, with thick paint, deep shadow and faces that seem lost in thought, as in Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, painted for a Sicilian collector. He was also the leading etcher of his age, reworking plates through many states and making the medium as expressive as painting.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 41.1.31
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Prints
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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