Rembrandt: The Three Crosses (1653)

Rembrandt was not only a gifted painter, but also one of the greatest graphic artists ever. His touching depiction of the Crucifixion, called The Three Crosses (1653), is a convincing example of this. It illustrates the dramatic moment that Christ actually dies, when 'there was darkness over the whole land'. An enormous beam of light comes from above, hence creating strong shadows and silhouettes all over the place. Just as the Bible tells us the - initially skeptical - Roman centurion kneels down, crying out: 'Truly, this man was the Son of God!’
Now it is much of a cliché to state that he was the ‘master of light’, but here Rembrandt proves again that light is not just a tool for him to create a work of art – such as depth, perspective, lines or color - but that he uses it as an autonomous force. Just like God lets the heavenly light break through the dark sky to show everyone that there is still hope for redemption, so does Rembrandt let the light break through the dark accumulation of human suffering in his composition.
The Three Crosses is made with drypoint, a technique that has a different, denser effect than etching. Rembrandt worked regularly with it, but he had to cope with the general disadvantage of drypoint, which is that the plate wears down very fast, so that only a limited amount of prints is possible. This one is the third state (print version) of The Three Crosses and it is probable that he considered it the best, because he only started to sign the prints in this phase. Typically, Rembrandt continued with a fourth state, but then decided to blacken out large sections of the scene and to remove many details and figures, thus creating a totally different work of art.