The Great Deposition from the Cross - Religious Art - Paintings from the Bible

Leiden - 1669 Amsterdam - school

The Great Deposition from the Cross

Style of REMBRANDT VAN RIJN

Oil on canvas. Relined. 172,5 x 118,5cm

In the center of the painting, surrounded by divine rays, there is the large and superior cross, on which Christ met his death. On its crossbars there are still remains of blood as a sign of Christ's torture. The cross is surrounded by six helpers, who bring down Christ's body from the cross with the help of a large white cloth. All of them concentrate on Christ in the center of the scene. Due to his white skin and surrounded by the white cloth he is directly the center of attention of the painting. The corpulent Jewish councilman, Joseph of Arimathia, who wears an oriental robe consisting of a cloak and a large turban, stands to the right and observes the scene. On the right there are two more male observers and next to a repoussoir figure there are Saint Mary Magdalene and Mary, who wears a blue cloak and whose face is hidden. Besides the light center the soft blue of Mary's coat is the only other illuminated spot in the painting. In the foreground a heavy, patterned cloth is kept available in order to wrap Christ into it. In the background on the left there is the destroyed temple of Jerusalem. On the right there is a bone as a hint to the site of Calvary where the cross had been erected on the grave of Adam. However, the entire background is darkened and the motifs are barely recognizable.

Rembrandt emphasises the human and suffering features of Christ Crucified in his version of the subject. An inverted etching of the painting by Rembrandt with minor variations can be dated 1633. The painter of this picture presumably knew that print, possibly he also knew the Deposition from the Cross by Rembrandt himself, and chose it as a model. He was familiar with Rembrandt's Chiaroscuro painting and its dramatic effects as well as with his preference for oriental costumes. More

Our News letter for April 22, 2015 - Matisse, Picasso, Félix ZIEM, Rembrandt van Rijn, Goya

A man dealing with sewage problems in a building in Lecce, Italy that he purchased in the hopes of opening a restaurant, unearthed a subterranean world full of archeological relics dating to the era before Jesus was born, the New York Times reports. More

Missing Goya Found Amongst Seized Art Trove of Shoe Queen Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines and the owner of a famously massive shoe collection, turns out to have also briefly been in possession of an early 19th-century Goya canvas. The artwork somehow vanished from the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art (LACMA), apparently never to be seen again, until much of the shoe queen's property was seized by the Philippine government in 2014. More

What is this? A collector's curiosity. Rembrandt van Rijn, The Shell, an etching. The Netherlands. Dated AD 1650 (state II). Still-life was popular new genres in painting in seventeenth-century Holland, after the collapse of religious patronage, landscape, domestic interiors, and townscapes. Rembrandt engaged closely with the human content of his work, and this still-life study is unique in his printed work. The shell is a Conus marmoreus, which is native to south-east Africa, Polynesia and Hawaii.

Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1661. canvas, h 91cm × w 77cm. His brow furrowed and eyebrows arched, Rembrandt peers out at us meaningfully. He has portrayed himself as the Apostle Paul, recognizable by the saint’s attributes, a sword and a manuscript. More

Félix ZIEM 'Chameliers et troupeau en Afrique du Nord'. Huile sur panneau, signée en bas à droite, dans un joli cadre en bois et stuc doré. 29,5 x 51 cm.

In her latest book, "In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art," the British writer Sue Roe offers a lively and concise account of their lives during a 10-year period when they struggled to find new ways to express themselves and, in the process, rocked the foundations of Western art. More

Our art Newsletter for April 16. 2015

Galerie Richelieu, dimanche le 19 avril 2015, pour l’exposition de Bertrand Tremblay.

Guerrilla Girls: Art in Action at the Pomona College Art Museum, curated by Benjamin Feldman, a Pomona senior and the Josephine Bump ’76 curatorial intern, is a small but potent look at the confrontational posters and publications created by the feminist group. Started in 1985 by an anonymous cluster of critics, artists, academics, and museum workers, the Guerrilla Girls have made a long career of critiquing the art world’s male- and Caucasian-centered focus. More

Leonardo da Vinci, Head of a Young Woman (Study for the Angel in the "Virgin of the Rocks").

Photo: courtesy Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy; Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William & Mary in Virginia in partnership with the Associazione Culturale Metamorfosi; and the MFA, Boston.

Opening today, on what would have been Leonardo da Vinci's 563rd birthday, the exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci and the Idea of Beauty" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. More

The exhibition "Graphic art masterpieces. Henri Matisse" premiered at the Bucharest Noblesse Palace and can be visited until June 7, the Romanian organizers announced at a recent press conference. More

During a recent paper conservation treatment, the Barnes Foundation discovered two unfinished sketches on the reverse sides of two watercolors by Cézanne.  The Sketches depict the landscape of southern France. More

The Chaîne de l'Etoile Mountains 

Trees

Marc Chagall (French/Russian, 1887–1985)

Le Ciel bleu, 1964

Lithograph with watercolor on BFK Rives paper

Overall Size: 29.8 x 22.3 in. (75.69 x 56.64 cm.)

Framed Size: 38 x 30 in. (96.52 x 76.2 cm.)

Signed and inscribed 'epreuve litho aquarellee' in pencil

The present work is a lithograph completed with a flourish of watercolor by the artist. The lithograph was hand-colored before the lithography in blue, yellow, orange, red and green was applied, with the extant registration marks for the lithograph at the lower portion of the sheet. The work is signed by the artist in pencil and further inscribed 'epreuve litho aquarelle'. More

In keeping with Easter Spirit; "Lamentation," circa 1650, most likely painted by students of Rembrandt van Rijn. (Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota) “Lamentation,” a painting from the permanent collection of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, depicts the time after Jesus was taken from the cross and before his interment in the tomb. More at: Boston Globe

Le Picador: Picasso 

The lithograph began as a book project about the Spanish passion for bullfighting. Picasso collaborated with author Jaime Sabartes on a book, “A los toros avec Picasso,” which included 103 of the artist’s drawings.
Picasso enjoyed the subject so much that he went on to create a series of four black–and-white lithographs, “La Pique,” “Le Picado,” Jeu de Cape,” and “Les Banderilles.” Later, at the request of the publisher, Picasso was asked to add color to the plates to which he obliged by using every color in his box of 24 litho crayons... More

THE OASIS OF MATISSE - 27 MAR - 16 AUG 2015

The Oasis of Matisse is the largest exhibition of Henri Matisse (1869-1954) in the Netherlands ever. Masterpieces by Matisse alongside work by his contemporaries from the Stedelijk Museum’s permanent collection. The Oasis of Matisse is an unforgettable experience! More