Christ Taken, from The Passion

Jan van Vliet utilized the dramatic interplay between highlights and shadows to show the heightened moment of Judas’s treacherous kiss. The countless Roman soldiers that recede into the darkness, only betrayed by their pikes and spears, as well as the silhouetted figure who stands between the light and the viewer further dramatize the moment. Van Vliet was also the etcher for several prints designed by Rembrandt, including the Descent From the Cross. The extent to which van Vliet had a hand in the creation of Rembrandt’s prints, however, is the subject of much debate among scholars.