Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011146The Meeting of Christ with Martha and Mary after the Death of Lazarus
Also known as: The Meeting of Christ with Martha and Mary at the Grave of Lazarus
About the Artwork
Scholars now consider this drawing a rare, late work by Rembrandt. Here, Christ meets with Martha and Mary after the death of their brother, Lazarus (John 11:30–36). The composed dignity of Christ's face and his calm compassion contrast with the prostrate figure of Mary and the agitated drawing of the kneeling Martha, whose outstretched hands are repeated three times, suggesting a frenzied expressivity. Above Martha, white gouache obliterates the figure of a standing man as well as a first version of Martha's head. The combination of rough power and sublime tenderness that characterizes Rembrandt's late drawing style is here demonstrated in the dramatic rendering of the sisters' grief and the sensitive portrayal of the bearded old man who dries his eyes with a kerchief at the right.
Provenance
Edward Vernon Utterson Private Collection, England Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York Edward Vernon Utterson, London (Lugt 909, lower center, in black ink). Private Collection, England (according to departmental cataloging sheet and Benesch 1973, vol. 5, p. 293, cat. no. 1068a). [Rosenberg and Stiebel, Inc., New York]
Exhibition history
Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965). Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965). Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973). Italian Drawings with von Hirsh Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 15-December 4, 1978). Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Graphics. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-August 1, 1982). Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983). Rembrandt in America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 19-May 28, 2012).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
- Date
- c. 1662–65
- Medium
- reed pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white gouache (in the heads of the kneeling figures)
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 17.5 x 20.8 cm (6 7/8 x 8 3/16 in.); Secondary Support: 17.5 x 20.8 cm (6 7/8 x 8 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1962.116
More by Rembrandt van Rijn in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011146
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