Blog #6- Baroque Art of Flanders

Three Crosses- Fourth State Three Crosses- Third State

Three Crosses By Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt’s Three Crosses speaks to me this week as we observe Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Rembrandt, a very religious man, created a series of 5 prints entitled “The Three Crosses” which capture the moment when Jesus, on the cross, cries out his last words, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”. These prints were created by Rembrandt by using a tool called a “buris” to scratch into a copper plate 15” by 17”. Most large works of this kind were done by covering the plate with wax and etching into the soft material that covers the plate, and then dipping the metal into acid which eats into the plate to create the lines. But Rembrandt wanted to give this work the highest state of realism that you can achieve in a print by actually cutting into the plate by hand. This requires quite a bit of muscle to cut all of the lines in by hand, but has the result of giving the prints a softer, fuzzier edge to the lines, and thus more painterly than etched prints. The first “state” of this print is in our book, as is the fourth “state” (each of the 5 versions of the print are called states) I have attached the third and fourth state. I was never able to find a picture of the 5th state. The Third State appears to be Rembrandts favorite print, as it is the only version that he signed his name to, thus verifying it was ready for reproduction and sale. When I read about these prints, I imagined that he had produced 5 different copper plates and printed from each. That was not the case. He created the first state, and printed from it. He then made changes and printed the 2nd state. Later he made further changes and created the 3rd State, to which he was very happy with. In the 3rd State, the emotion of the scene is palpable. The collapsed Virgin Mary, the torturous pain felt by John expresses as he pulls his hair out, the anguish of Mary Magdalene, the on-the-spot conversion of the Centurion as he falls to his knees at the base of the cross, all form a backdrop to the solitary Jesus in his final moments as a mortal on earth. After making multiple copies of this 3rd state, the edges of the lines began to wear down, and the burs that are created by the drypoint method were flattening out. So 1 year later Rembrandt scraped off whole sections of the plate and began a new direction for the print. This new version is far darker that the previous 3, and with far less detail. The only part of this print that remains in the glorious light of God is Jesus.
When I look at these works of art by Rembrandt, I am troubled by one thought. By printing multiple copies of this copper plate, when does the print move from “work of art” to “poster”? Is not the artist cheapening his own work by mass printing the image? Is not the copper plate the real work of art? I am not settled on what I think of all of these copies, in the same way that the ability to make up to 12 brass castings of Rodins molds for his statues seems odd to me.. there could be 12 Thinkers out there.. are they all authentic when so many can be floating around? The concept of Graphic Arts, therefore, bothers me a bit. I prefer the art where there is only one true piece- Michelangelo’s David, or The Mona Lisa.
The other thought that came to mind when looking at these prints is how this image of Christ on the Cross has had (and continues to have) such a profound effect on the world. In 1985 I was lucky enough to be in Krakow, Poland on Good Friday and to visit St Mary’s Church (Mariacki Church) Here the church had the biggest recreation of this very scene of the Three Crosses in the tomb below the church that I have ever seen. At the time, the Communist party was very much against religion. So to be a practicing Catholic was a statement of defiance. Also at that time the Solidarity movement “Solidarnosc” was at its height, and also completely illegal. So for this reenactment of the Three Crosses, the Catholic Church draped a red cloth over the center cross, and on it was the words “Solidarnosc”. The freedom movement of the Polish people was equated to the suffering and death that faced Jesus. They were waiting to be resurrected. And in 1989 they finally were.. thanks to the Catholic Church and the Solidarity movement in Poland.
Images and symbols are very important, and Rembrandt was very aware of this when he created his series of prints.