Epilogue

Could the figure of Christ forged by Rembrandt acquire a following? Initially, this seems to have been the case. The painter’s pupils and imitators appropriated the image he had perfected and disseminated it. The heads of Christ seem destined to have had successors. The majestic effigies that Rembrandt was fond of painting in the 1660s also left their mark: the grave and monumental Christ with Arms Folded (Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York State) seems to have been the benchmark that showed the way for other artists. Yet the equilibrium that Rembrandt had achieved soon disappeared. Rather like Caravaggio’s innovations faded away after their initiator died, the figure of Christ that Rembrandt had developed in his studio gradually lost its identity in increasingly hollow imitations, and even manipulations such as the reuse of the artist’s etching plates after he died.