REMBRANDT AND THE GOSPEL W. A. VISSER T HOOFT PHILADELPHIA THE WESTMINSTER PRESS Contents List of Illustrations 7 I Rembrandts Pilgrimage 9 II The Painter of the Bible 1 8 HI Christ in Rembrandts Work 31 3V The Virgin Mary in Rembrandts Work 42 V The Miracle of Christmas 49 VI A Sermon The Hundred Guilder Print 5 5 Rembrandt and the Church 60 Rembrandts Friends in the Last Period of his Life 71 IX Rembrandts Message . 108 Notes Plates List of Illustrations 1 REMBRANDT AND SASKiA Painting about 1636 131 2 REMBRANDT AS STPAUL Painting of 1661 133 3 ECCE HOMO Etching of 1636 135 4 ECCE HOMO Etching of 1655 1 3 7 5 THE RAISING OF LAZARUS Etching about l6 2 139 6 THE RAISING OF LAZARUS Etching about 1642 141 7 CHRIST AT EMMAUS Painting of 1629 143 8 CHRIST AT EMMAUS Painting about 1661 145 9 VIRGIN AND CHILD SEATED ON THE CLOUDS Etching by Federigo Barocci 147 10 VIRGIN AND CHILD SEATED ON THE CLOUDS Etching of 1641 149 1 1 THE ANNUNCIATION Drawing about 1645 x 5 1 12 THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE Drawing about 1645 153 13 CHRIST RETURNING FROM THE TEMPLE WITH HIS PARENTS Etching of 1654 155 14 THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS Drawing about 1652 157 15 CHRIST WALKING ON THE WAVES Drawing about 1655 159 1 6 CHRIST WASHING THE APOSTLES FEET Drawing about 1658 161 17 CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE Drawing about 1655 163 1 8 CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE Drawing about 1657 165 7 REMBRANDT AND THE GOSPEL 19 CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE Etching about 7657.167 20 CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE Drawing about 1655 169 21 THE ENTOMBMENT OF CHRIST Etching about 1645 III 22 CHRIST APPEARING TO HIS DISCIPLES Draw ing about 1648 173 23 CHRIST AT EMMAUS Copy of an original about 24 THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS WITH THE LAMP Etching about 1654 T 77 25 THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI Painting of 1657 I 79 26 JOSEPHS DREAM IN BETHLEHEM Painting of 1645 I8 C 27 JOSEPHS DREAM IN EGYPT Drawing about 1650 183 28 THE HUNDRED GUILDER PRINT Etching about 1649 185 29 NATHAN AND DAVID Drawing about 1663 1 8 7 30 NATHAN AND DAVID Drawing about 1663 189 31 DAVID IN PRAYER Etching OJ 1 6 2 191 32 THE EVANGELIST MATTHEW Painting of l66l 193 CHAPTER ONE Rembrandts Pilgrimage K MBRANDT was born in Leyden in 1606. In all likelihood it was his mother, whom he repeat edly painted with her Bible, who introduced him to Holy Scripture. From 1613 he attended the grammar school, where the Bible as well as the Classics were studied daily. In 1620 his father planned to send him to the university but Rembrandts one and only passion was painting. For three years he worked in a studio in Leyden, and thereafter was for several months the pupil of Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. There he was introduced to the Italian style of pain ting, whose predominant themes were historical and biblical. But we can hardly describe this kind of religious painting as biblical, for it is concerned with the beautiful stories of the Bible rather than with its meaningT From 1625 till 1632 he worked independently in Leyden, and sought his own personal mode of expres sion. When the statesman Huygens paid him a visit during that time, and pressed him to go to Italy, he replied that he had no time for travelling, and that, besides, there were enough Italian masterpieces to be seen in Holland. A great many of his paintings from that period deal with biblical themes Balaam, Samson, David and Goliath, Tobit, Simeon, the expulsion from REMBRANDT AND THE GOSPEL the Temple, Judas, St Paul Strong contrasts, great passions, heroic figures are his main themes. Rem brandt was in search of the grandiose, and the biblical world appeared to him as a world of supermen. In 1632 he left his native town and settled in Amsterdam, the centre of intellectual life in Holland. His reputation grew rapidly. He executed commis sioned portraits with remarkable technical skill, but without inwardness or depth. Soon the millers son was able to marry a girl from a very good family, Saskia van Uylenburch 1634...