Durer Rembrandt: The Story of the Bible

March 27 – May 24, 2009

Within three decades of the 1455 Gutenberg Bible, printing presses throughout Europe made the Bible accessible to the public and a primary narrative source for artists. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), one of the most important humanists of the Northern Renaissance, created meticulous woodcuts and engravings of the Old and New Testament that depicted the life of Christ and stories of the prophets and the saints as tangible human dramas. A century later, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) applied his personal interpretation of Biblical texts to works of art that remain the most profoundly spiritual ever created.

Dürer · Rembrandt: The Story of the Bible includes thirty-five etchings and engravings of the Old and New Testament by these two great artists. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a rare and early impression of Rembrandt’s masterpiece, The Three Crosses (fourth state) recently acquired by the museum. Works from the permanent collection as well as loans from the Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame University and private collections are included.

Rembrandt van Rijn
(Dutch, 1606-1669)
Christ Crucified Between Two Thieves (The Three Crosses), fourth state, 1653-1655
Drypoint with burin
Museum Purchase, Sid and Joanne Jansma, 2007.11