1597

The Man of Sorrows

Dutch (active Haarlem), 1562 - 1638

Cornelis van Haarlem was one of the leading painters working in the Dutch city of Haarlem around 1600. In this composition, the artist used traditional models for Christ’s face, but rendered his body in his own elegant style, giving Jesus a muscular and godlike physique that, in spite of the tortures he had already endured by this point, remains devoid of any signs of suffering or weakness. Rembrandt’s realism forms a sharp contrast to the work of his artistic predecessors in Holland.