Christ Healing the Sick (The One Hundred Guilder Print)

Leopold Flameng’s print after Rembrandt’s famous etching Christ Among the Sick attests to the rapid elevation of the 17th-century Dutch painter’s reputation in mid-19th-century France. French writers not only praised Dutch artists for their naturalism and imitative abilities, but also identified Rembrandt in particular as a “painter of the people,” and a “painter of humanity.” This view has endured. Flameng follows Rembrandt in representing Christ surrounded by the poor and sick. A paralytic lies on a carpet at his feet; two kneeling figures petition him, dressed in costumes registering ethnic or regional distinctions; a sick figure lying on a cart is wheeled to Christ for healing. Rembrandt’s interest in a range of human types, including individuals of humble rank, sets him apart from many of his contemporary artists.