# Descent from the Cross [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 158 x 117 cm ## Commentary Descent from the Cross 1634 Oil on canvas, 158 x 117 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/database/glossary/note03.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=300,height=400'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">Catalogue number:</a> Bredius 551. In 1633 and 1634 Rembrandt produced several painted and etched versions of this subject, reflecting a search for the most expressive arrangement and lighting and his gradual movement away from Rubens's composition. This canvas can be regarded as the final stage of that quest. Rembrandt uses light of varying intensity to pick out not only Christ but also Mary on the right and the women on the left, shifting the sense of tragedy from the event to how those close to Jesus experienced it. A later \(1651\) version of the painting is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington. ## Related artworks - [A black drummer and commander mounted on mules; riding in profile]() - [A child being taught to walk]() - [A cottage beneath trees]() - [A girl sleeping]() - [A Man Laughing]() - [A man making water]() - [A Peddler Selling Spectacles \(The Allegory of Sight\)]() - [A Polish Nobleman]() - [A Scholar]() - [A two-humped camel]() - [A woman in Zeeland costume, from the back]() - [A woman in Zeeland costume, from the front]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()