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Learning from Rembrandt’s Religious Style

Guest Post by Matthew Loveland, MOA Marketing & PR Intern One of the most interesting paintings on display at the BYU Museum of Art is

Head of Christ, by Rembrandt, which is currently on display for our newest exhibition

Rend the Heavens: Intersections of the Human and Divine. This version of the painting is one of a dozen known variations which are currently displayed all over the world. The other versions of this painting are believed to have been developed throughout the 1650s, a time where Rembrandt begins to paint large, extravagant religious scenes. Through the 1640s, Rembrandt had focused on small, reflective paintings that showed little emotion. By shifting to large, theatrical pieces such as

Moses Smashes the Stone Tablets with the Text of the Covenant (1659) or

Joseph Accused by Potiphar’s Wife (1655), Rembrandt shows an appreciation for the diversity of action and themes. However, these larger scenes aren’t reflective of the quiet, intimate portrait we find in

Head of Christ, and signals his return to the smaller portraits more typical of his style in the 1640s. Later pieces such as

The Jewish Bride (1665) and

The Return of the Prodigal Son (1668) blend Rembrandt’s taste for grandeur with smaller-scale intimacy. However, this comes to fruition through

Head of Christ. In the version currently on display in

Rend the Heavens, Rembrand crafts an image of Christ that fills a small frame, but fills a room with a strong emotion of love. Christ looks into the soul of the viewer with a gaze that is both steely and loving. Here, Rembrandt also uses muted colors in his color and in Christ’s hair that contrast against his pale skin and the white of an undershirt--as if to convey the idea that something divine is hidden underneath an earthy exterior. By capturing a strong persona through simple means, Rembrandt successfully merges a lifetime of painting style.