The Entombment of Christ

Rembrandt painted The Entombment of Christ probably around 1639-40 as part of the Passion series he was completing for Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange. The series, which included The Descent from the Cross and several other related works, demonstrated Rembrandt's ambition to compete with Rubens in monumental religious painting — the genre that Continental Catholic tradition considered the highest form of art. His correspondence with Constantijn Huygens during the series' completion reveals his thinking about the relationship between composition and emotion, and his famous claim that the Entombment and Resurrection contained 'the greatest and most natural movement' represents an early formulation of the expressive theory that underlay all his mature work. The combination of intense psychological focus and dramatic chiaroscuro in the Entombment creates a work of concentrated grief that operates at a different emotional register from Rubens's more theatrically heroic treatments.

The limp body of Christ is lowered into the dark tomb, the pale flesh illuminated by torchlight that also catches the grief-stricken faces of the mourners, creating a powerful interplay of light and emotion.