Standing on a dais and wearing a turban, Pontius Pilate, the prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, presents Christ—weary, disrobed, and bound—to the unruly crowd below (Matthew 27:15–26). An allegorical representation of Justice stands in the niche behind Pilate, but it is the mob who will condemn the prisoner to crucifixion. In this rare early impression, executed entirely in drypoint and printed on warm-hued Japanese paper, Rembrandt’s strokes have a rapid, sketch-like quality, enhancing the urgency and emotional drama of the scene.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), Christ Presented to the People: Oblong Plate, 1655. Drypoint on Japanese paper. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1905. Inv. RvR 118