# Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves ("The Three Crosses") > Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - 1653 for the plate's first three states (state III signed and dated "Rembrandt f 1653" at the bottom centre); the plate's fourth and fifth states, radically reworked, are dated by different scholars to as early as later in 1653-54, to c. 1658, or to c. 1660-61 - a genuine, unresolved dating disagreement addressed in the narrative below > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/rembrandt-van-rijn/rembrandt-the-three-crosses/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-08-13 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - **Date:** 1653 for the plate's first three states (state III signed and dated "Rembrandt f 1653" at the bottom centre); the plate's fourth and fifth states, radically reworked, are dated by different scholars to as early as later in 1653-54, to c. 1658, or to c. 1660-61 - a genuine, unresolved dating disagreement addressed in the narrative below - **Medium:** Drypoint, extensively reworked with additional drypoint and engraving (burin) in the plate's later states, printed with surface tone; this impression on Japanese paper - **Dimensions:** Platemark and sheet size vary across surviving impressions by state, trimming and mounting, from roughly 364 x 443 mm to 390 x 456 mm; the Rijksmuseum's primary impression discussed in this record (RP-P-1962-40) measures 375 x 450 mm - **Object type:** Print - **Period:** Dutch, seventeenth century (Golden Age) - **Current location:** Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary In 1653 Rembrandt finished, signed and dated a large drypoint of Christ's crucifixion built almost entirely from scratched, unworn burr rather than etched line - a technical risk almost no printmaker before him had taken at this scale. He considered it done: the plate carries his signature and the date at the third state. Then, at a point scholars still cannot agree on, he went back into the same copper and tore it apart. Figures were scraped and burnished into oblivion, a horseman and a man in an improbable tall hat appeared where a crowd had stood, and thick, driving diagonal strokes turned an already sombre scene into something close to total darkness. States I to III and states IV and V are so different from each other that this record treats them, deliberately, the way it would treat two related but distinct objects - because for more than a century after Rembrandt's death, print connoisseurs were not sure the two halves of this sequence came from the same plate at all.This record anchors on the Rijksmuseum's impression of the fourth state, printed on Japanese paper, one of two Three Crosses impressions the museum received in successive years from the Amsterdam collectors Isaac de Bruijn and Johanna Geertruida de Bruijn-van der Leeuw. The museum also holds an impression of the clean, signed third state and a first-state impression pulled, unusually, on vellum rather than paper - so the whole arc from finished image to its own destruction and remaking sits, physically, in the same print room. The reasons scholars give for why Rembrandt did this range from the practical (drypoint burr wears out fast) to the deliberately experimental (a documented practice, across several of his late plates, of manufacturing collectible variation) to the theological (a literal staging of the Gospel of Luke's darkness at the ninth hour). This record states plainly what it could and could not confirm about each explanation, and about when, exactly, the second half of this story happened. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **1653** Rembrandt van Rijn, Amsterdam (the plate and its first three states) `[documented]` (creation) Rembrandt signed and dated the plate's third state "Rembrandt f 1653" at the bottom centre, evidence that he considered the image finished at that point. The plate remained his own property and working tool. - **1653-c. 1661** Rembrandt van Rijn, Amsterdam (the plate, reworked into states IV and V) `[documented]` (reworking) Rembrandt himself reworked the plate, scraping and burnishing away large portions of the earlier composition. That the reworking happened, and that it was Rembrandt's own act, is documented; exactly when within this range is not, and three different dates (within months of 1653, c. 1658, and c. 1660-61) appear across the sources consulted. - **undated** Unidentified collector (mark catalogued as Lugt 228) `[unknown]` (ownership) This specific impression carries a stamped collector's mark catalogued as Lugt 228. The Rijksmuseum's own online entry does not identify the collector, and this record could not establish the identity or a date from the sources consulted. - **-1961/1962** Isaac de Bruijn (1872-1953) and Johanna Geertruida de Bruijn-van der Leeuw (1877-1960), Spiez and Muri, Switzerland `[documented]` (acquisition) The couple assembled a significant Rembrandt print collection, documented as active, informed buyers in the 1930s London old-master print trade (a 1936 Kinnaird-collection purchase at GBP 47,500 and a 1936 Oppenheimer-sale purchase for 700 guineas via the dealer P. and D. Colnaghi and Co.). The exact date and source of their acquisition of this specific impression is not stated in the sources consulted; the couple's Rembrandt holdings were donated to the Rijksmuseum in 1949 subject to usufruct, transferred to the museum in 1960, with this specific sheet and its vellum-impression companion following by bequest in 1962 and 1961 respectively. - **1962-present** Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam `[documented]` (bequest) Received by bequest in 1962 as part of the Mr and Mrs De Bruijn-van der Leeuw bequest; catalogued as RP-P-1962-40. ## Auction results Hammer and buyer's premium are stated separately. Where a source conflates them this record says so. - **2024-10-23** Christie's, New York, Exceptional Impressions: The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection, sale 23636 (sale id 30738), Rockefeller Center, 23 October 2024, 14:00 UTC, lot 20 - Estimate: USD 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 - Hammer: USD 1,100,000 DERIVED, not published. Derived under the schedule in the Conditions of Sale the lot page links (ConditionsOfSale-NewYork-19OCT23.pdf): 26 per cent of hammer up to and including USD 1,000,000, 21 per cent of the part over 1,000,000 up to 6,000,000. 1,260,000 + 1.21 x 100,000 = 1,381,000; hammer 1,100,000, a round bidding figure. Label stays DERIVED. - With premium: USD 1,381,000 premium-inclusive, as printed on the house lot page and carried in the sale's lot-search JSON (price_realised 1381000); press reports of '$1.38m' round to 1,380,000, which understates the house figure by USD 1,000. - Lot page read 2026-09-15 at rung 1, HTTP 200, in full; lot-search JSON read the same day; the two agree. Impression as catalogued: drypoint, 1653, laid paper, watermark Strasbourg Bend (Hinterding D.a), 'a brilliant, highly atmospheric impression of the extremely rare second state (of five), before the additional rework in the foreground and before Rembrandt's signature and date', plate 385 x 452 mm, sheet 387 x 454 mm. The record's note that the state 'is not established' is answered: SECOND state. Provenance as printed by the house: Jan Chalon (1738-1795), Amsterdam, Paris and London (Lugt 439); Walter Shropshire, London, his stock catalogue n. 42; Jonathan Blackburne (1721-1786), Hale Hall and Liverpool, inscribed W. S. and dated 1772, his posthumous sale Hutchins, London, 20 March 1786, lot 821; Joseph Browne, Shepton Mallet, his posthumous sale Gerard, London, 23 May 1791, 2nd day lot 52; Daniel Daulby (1745/6-1798), Liverpool, his posthumous sale Christie's 14-17 May 1800, probably lot 129; Edward Rudge (1763-1846), Abbey Manor, Evesham, by descent to John Edward Rudge, his sale Christie's 16-17 December 1924 lot 103 (GBP 1,155; to Colnaghi; cited in Lugt); P. and D. Colnaghi, London; Eldridge Reeves Johnson (1867-1945), Wilmington, house sale Philadelphia 1962; Dr Otto Schaefer (1912-2000), Schweinfurt (Lugt 5881), his sale Sotheby's New York 13 May 1993 lot 22, sold after the sale to Harris. The house essay states that of the second state 'only one other impression is known outside a public collection'. Second confirmation of the figure: HENI's sale report of 24 October 2024 gives '$1.38m, 38% above its $1m low estimate' and a sale total of USD 9.89m; the lot search gives 126 lots listed, 121 with a price, sum USD 9,893,182, which is the calendar's published total. - **2023-12-07** Christie's, London, Old Masters Part I, sale 20685 (sale id 29467), King Street, 7 December 2023, 14:30 GMT. NOT the Josefowitz print sale 22952 held the same evening; the Josefowitz estate placed this lot and the Ecce Homo in the paintings sale., lot 19 - Estimate: GBP 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 - Hammer: GBP 980,000 DERIVED, not published. Derived from 1,225,800 under the buyer's premium schedule in the Conditions of Sale the lot page links (conditionsofsale-london-aug2023): 26 per cent of hammer up to and including GBP 800,000, 21 per cent of the part over 800,000 up to 4,500,000. 800,000 x 1.26 = 1,008,000; (1,225,800 - 1,008,000) / 1.21 = 180,000; hammer 980,000, a round bidding figure. Label stays DERIVED. - With premium: GBP 1,225,800 premium-inclusive, as printed on the house lot page ('Price realised GBP 1,225,800') and carried in the sale's lot-search JSON (price_realised 1225800). The figure of GBP 870,000 previously carried on this row was a rounding of GBP 869,400, the premium-inclusive result of lot 17 of the same sale, The Three Trees - a different print. - Lot page read 2026-09-15 at rung 1, HTTP 200, in full, and the sale's lot-search JSON read the same day; the two agree. Impression as catalogued: drypoint, 1653, laid paper, watermark Strasbourg Bend (Hinterding D.a.b), 'a very fine impression of the extremely rare third state (of five)', much burr, selectively wiped plate tone, plate 387 x 455 mm, sheet 396 x 465 mm. Provenance as printed by the house: Hofbibliothek Vienna; Albertina, Vienna (Lugt 5d, with their stamp and de-accession stamp); their duplicates sale, C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, 3 May 1932, lot 61 (M 23,000; to Dr Kann for Schocken); Salman Schocken (1877-1959); Sotheby's London 29 November 1966 lot 16 (GBP 30,000; to Maison); Faerber and Maison, London; Charles C. Cunningham Jr. (Lugt 4684); Robert M. Light, Santa Barbara; Sam Josefowitz (Lugt 6094), acquired 1982 through Laube; by descent. Literature as printed: Bartsch, Hollstein 78; Hind 270; New Hollstein 274 (this impression cited); Stogdon 40 (this impression illustrated). INDEPENDENT CONFIRMATION of the figure: Christie's own lot essay for the Schwartz impression (sale 23636, October 2024) cites 'the Albertina duplicate from the Josefowitz Collection (Christie's, London, 7 December 2023, sold for US$ 1,542,000)', which is GBP 1,225,800 at 1.258, the rate of the day. A secondary blog reproducing the house press text prints 'Sold for GBP 1,225,800' for this lot but misprints the Saint Jerome in the print sale as 1,522,500 against the house's 1,552,500, so it corroborates and is not relied on. SALE-LEVEL: lot 20 of the same sale, the Josefowitz fifth-state Ecce Homo, estimate GBP 1,000,000-1,500,000, carries is_unsold true on its page; bought in. - **2015-03-17** Sotheby's, Prints and Multiples, London, sale L15160, lot 49, lot 49 - Estimate: GBP 200,000 - 300,000 - Hammer: Not found in the sources consulted - With premium: Not found in the sources consulted - A fourth-state impression, described in the catalogue as fine, with rich burr and dramatic tonal contrast, in good condition with a repaired tear, foxing and minor creasing. Provenance: ex-collection Adalbert von Lanna (Lugt 2773), the noted Prague old-master print collector. This record confirmed the lot description and estimate directly but could not establish the price realized from the sources it could access. ## Open questions - When, precisely, did Rembrandt rework the plate into its fourth state? Sources consulted give three different answers - within months of 1653, circa 1658, and circa 1660-61 - and this record could not obtain Erik Hinterding's own specific watermark-based date, only the fact that his research displaces the once-standard stylistic dating. - What happened to the copper plate after Rembrandt's death in 1669? No source consulted for this record traces its ownership, unlike the well-documented posthumous chain (Greenwood, then Baillie, in 1775) established for this archive's Hundred Guilder Print record. - Who does the collector's mark Lugt 228, on this record's primary impression, belong to? Not identified in the sources consulted. - Who does the collector's mark Lugt 240, recurring on three of the Rijksmuseum's other Three Crosses impressions and on this museum's Durer and Hundred Guilder Print impressions recorded elsewhere in this archive, actually belong to? Not identified in any source consulted across any of the three records. - From whom, and when, did Isaac de Bruijn and Johanna Geertruida de Bruijn-van der Leeuw acquire either of their two Three Crosses impressions specifically? Their general participation in the 1930s London print trade is documented; the specific acquisition of these two sheets is not. - Was the hammer price of the 2024 Christie's Schwartz Collection sale, or the reported 2023 Christie's Josefowitz Collection sale, ever published separately from the buyer's premium? Not found in the sources consulted; both figures given in this record are combined totals. - Did the plate's fourth-state reworking coincide, in any documented way, with Rembrandt's 1653 financial crisis, or is the shared year a coincidence? No source consulted draws this connection explicitly, and this record does not assert one. ## Sources - [1] Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue entry for The Three Crosses, object number RP-P-1962-40. - [2] Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue entry for The Three Crosses, object number RP-P-1961-1196A. - [3] Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue entry for The Three Crosses, object number RP-P-OB-616. - [4] Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue entry for The Three Crosses, object number RP-P-OB-617. - [5] Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue entry for The Three Crosses, object number RP-P-OB-618. - [6] Wikipedia, 'The Three Crosses.' Tertiary source, flagged for replacement with the New Hollstein Rembrandt catalogue and Christopher White's Rembrandt as an Etcher directly. - [7] Cleveland Museum of Art, catalogue entry for Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses,' accession 1959.241. - [8] Amanda Shubert, 'Rembrandt's The Three Crosses,' Smith College Museum of Art blog, 18 April 2012. - [9] Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, catalogue entry for The Three Crosses, accession AD.2015.7. - [10] Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, artwork essay for Rembrandt van Rijn, The Three Crosses, 1660-61, on the Pisanello-medal and Oath of the Batavians dating argument and Erik Hinterding's watermark-based revision of it. Identified via search-engine-indexed content; direct fetch of the page returned an access error during this research pass. - [11] Dan Starling, 'After Rembrandt's The Three Crosses,' essay citing Robert Fucci's Rembrandt's Changing Impressions on the costume revision between the third and fourth states and the experimental-innovation reading of the reworking. - [12] Robert Fucci, Rembrandt's Changing Impressions, exhibition catalogue, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, with David Freedberg and Deborah Cullen (Wallach Art Gallery / Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig, 2015). - [13] Sotheby's, London, Prints and Multiples sale L15160, lot 49, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, The Three Crosses, 17 March 2015. - [14] Heni, 'Rembrandt Leads Christie's $9.89m Exceptional Impressions: The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection Auction in New York,' 23 October 2024. - [15] Antiques Trade Gazette, 'Remarkable Rembrandt print prices as Christie's disperses Sam Josefowitz collection,' January 2024, on the 7 December 2023 Christie's London sale. Identified via search-engine-indexed content; direct fetch of the article returned an access error (403) on every attempt made during this research pass, so the GBP 870,000 / lot 17 figure in this record rests on that indexed summary rather than a directly read primary listing. - [16] Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue entry for Christ Presented to the People, object number RP-P-OB-611. - [17] Wikipedia, 'Christ Presented to the People.' Tertiary source, flagged for replacement with the New Hollstein Rembrandt catalogue directly. - [18] Leiden University, 'Rembrandt made a mess of his legal and financial life,' 2021, on the 8 January 1653 judicial delivery of the Breestraat house, the resulting loans taken in panic, and the Cornelis Witsen loan of January 1653. - [19] Washi Arts, 'Rembrandt's Etchings and Japanese Washi Paper from Echizen,' 2015, on Rembrandt's use of Japanese gampi-fibre paper from c. 1647 to 1665 and its visual and tonal properties. - [20] Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue entry for Self-Portrait as the Apostle Paul, object number SK-A-4050. - [21] National Gallery, London, press materials and reporting on 'Rembrandt: The Late Works,' 15 October 2014 - 18 January 2015, a joint exhibition with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. - [22] GAMEO (Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online), 'Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1607-1669),' on Rembrandt's family's mixed Catholic, Calvinist, Remonstrant and Mennonite ties and the absence of documented formal church membership. Identified via search-engine-indexed content. - [23] Arnold Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen (Amsterdam, 1718-21), for the reported remark 'Because I want to keep my spirit unfettered, I seek freedom, not honor,' attributed to Rembrandt via testimony from his own former pupils. Identified via search-engine-indexed secondary discussion; this record treats the remark as a reported anecdote from a biography written decades after Rembrandt's death, not as a document in Rembrandt's own hand. - [24] Secondary summary of the 1679 inventory of the Amsterdam print dealer Clement de Jonghe, listing 74 of Rembrandt's copper plates, two years after Rembrandt's death. Identified via search-engine-indexed content; flagged for replacement with a direct citation of the inventory or a scholarly edition of it. - [25] Secondary biographical summary of the collectors Isaac de Bruijn and Johanna Geertruida de Bruijn-van der Leeuw, their 1936 London old-master print purchases, and the 1949/1960/1961-62 staged bequest to the Rijksmuseum. Identified via search-engine-indexed content drawing on Rijksmuseum and National Gallery, London provenance materials; flagged for replacement with a direct Rijksmuseum archival source. - [26] Christie's, 'Lot 19, Rembrandt, Christ crucified between the two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses' - Old Masters Part I, sale 20685, 7 December 2023'. Sale, lot, estimate, premium-inclusive price GBP 1,225,800, third state, watermark, dimensions, the Albertina-to-Josefowitz provenance and the literature. Accessed 2026-09-15. - [27] christies.com, web page cited for the Christie's, London sale of 2023-12-07. - [28] Christie's, 'Conditions of Sale, London, August 2023'. The buyer's premium schedule behind the DERIVED hammer of GBP 980,000. Accessed 2026-09-15. - [29] Christie's, 'Lot 20, Rembrandt, Christ crucified between the two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses' - Exceptional Impressions: The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection, sale 23636, 23 October 2024'. Sale, lot, estimate, premium-inclusive price USD 1,381,000, second state, the eleven-owner provenance from Chalon to Schaefer, and the house's own citation of the December 2023 sale at US$ 1,542,000. Accessed 2026-09-15. - [30] Christie's, 'Lot 17, Rembrandt, The Three Trees - Old Masters Part I, sale 20685, 7 December 2023'. GBP 869,400, the figure the record had rounded to 870,000 and attached to the Three Crosses. Accessed 2026-09-15. - [31] christies.com, web page cited for the Christie's, New York sale of 2024-10-23. - [32] Christie's, 'Conditions of Sale, New York, 19 October 2023'. The buyer's premium schedule behind the DERIVED hammer of USD 1,100,000. Accessed 2026-09-15. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. If you quote this record, quote the provenance grades with it.