Jacob's Ladder

1655

Rembrandt van Rijn

Associated Names
Rembrandt van Rijn

Artist, Dutch, 1606 - 1669

The image shows an etching of multiple figures with varying visibility of their bodies. In the foreground is a reclined figure partially draped in cloth, with their head resting to one side. Above this figure, on the left side, there is an angelic figure with wings kneeling and leaning forward. Another figure is higher up on the right, turned away from the viewer and reaching upwards, showing the entire back and wings. The background features dark crosshatching and suggestive lines indicating light filtering through an unseen barrier, enhancing the dramatic lighting and shadowing in the composition.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching, burin and drypoint

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 10.6 × 7 cm (4 3/16 × 2 3/4 in.)
    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 11.4 × 7.7 cm (4 1/2 × 3 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.7210

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    White/Boon 1969, no. 36, State B ii/iii

  • Series Title

    Illustration to Menasseh ben Israel's "Piedra Gloriosa o de

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

John Barnard [died 1784], London (Lugt 1419); Lessing Julius Rosenwald (Lugt 1760b); given to the National Gallery of Art 1943

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1930

  • Prints and Drawings by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) from the Collections of Lessing J. Rosenwald, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, 1930

  • Rembrandt Etchings: Lent by Mr. Lessing J. Rosenwald, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1930.

1932

  • Etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) from the Collections of Lessing J. Rosenwald, Sears, Roebuck, and Co. Art Galleries, Washington, D.C., 1932.

1958

  • The Fantastic, the Occult, and the Bizarre in Prints from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1958, no catalogue.

1961

  • Rembrandt's Etchings, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1961-1962.

Bibliography

1923

  • Hind, Arthur M. A Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1923.

1969

  • White, Christopher and Karel G. Boon. Rembrandt's Etchings. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co., 1969.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1993: no. 288b, ii/iv.

Inscriptions

in plate, in margin below image at bottom left: Rembrandt f 1655; verso, top center, in brown ink, by a later hand: J.B [John Barnard collector's mark (Lugt 1419)] 2 / Harding; center, in graphite, by a later hand: 3rd Impr [?] / same as larger plates [?] / B.36 c II / c.13966/ 2 Imp [struckthrough]

Wikidata ID

Q65024760

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