Raising of the Cross

Rembrandt painted the Raising of the Cross as part of the Passion series commissioned by Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange around 1633, the pendant to The Descent from the Cross and together the most prestigious commission of his early career. The scene depicts the moment after the crucifixion when soldiers raise the cross bearing Christ's body to its upright position, a rarely depicted episode that gave Rembrandt the opportunity for a dramatic diagonal composition of exceptional force. Characteristically, Rembrandt included his own face among the men raising the cross — a traditional act of devotional self-implication that identified the artist with collective human guilt for Christ's suffering. The painting is now at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, where it is held alongside The Descent from the Cross, allowing viewers to see the two Passion pendants together in the context for which they were intended.

The dramatic diagonal of the cross being raised creates a powerful compositional dynamic, with the strong Caravaggesque lighting illuminating Christ's body while the straining figures work in contrasting shadow.