The Raising of Lazarus is an artwork created by the Dutch artist, Rembrandt Van Rijn, around 1630. The painting depicts the biblical story of Lazarus being revived by Christ as he rises from his tomb while Christ calls him towards life. This impressive piece showcases Rembrandt’s creativity and storytelling techniques in its composition.
The painting’s darker part shows an illuminated figure of Christ with other figures placed to his left side to create a clear contrast. In contrast, Lazarus occupies a dimly-lighted area enveloped in shadows that give him an ethereal quality. This arrangement expertly creates a sense of tension and anticipation in the image.
Throughout his lifetime, Rembrandt often painted stories and parables from various religious texts using familiar images to depict them. Besides this piece’s painting variant, he also made two etchings featuring varying characters’ compositions at different times during his career; one was approximately done in 1632 while the other came up ten years later (in 1642).
Vincent van Gogh also used this same theme for his unique interpretation titled The Raising of Lazarus (after Rembrandt) in 1890. Today, The Raising of Lazarus remains one of Rembrandt’s significant works that have inspired many artists across generations due to its thoughtful design and immense insightfulness into the sacred story it seeks to represent through imagery.
