The Death of the Virgin (II/V)

In Rembrandt's time the Calvinist Church Council was the predominant religious authority in Amsterdam, but other Protestants, Catholics and Jews were also tolerated. It is not known if Rembrandt was baptised as a Calvinist, but as an adult he was not a member of the Calvinist Church. John Calvin (1509-1564) had condemned religious images, including images of Mary, as idolatrous, so it would seem that Rembrandt made this etching specifically for a Catholic audience.

Rembrandt has depicted Mary's suffering in a realistic manner by including a man adjusting her pillow to make her comfortable and a doctor taking her pulse. These would have been regular activities in Rembrandt's home throughout his wife Saskia's illnesses. At the same time, a group of angels and cherubim on a cloudbank breaks through the ceiling's architecture, adding a sense of supernatural drama and introducing a shaft of bright, divine light shining straight on Mary in her bed.