Die Auferweckung des Lazarus

Around 1631 Jan Lievens and Rembrandt, close in age and sharing a studio in their home town of Leiden, set each other the same subject and tried to outdo one another: the moment Christ calls Lazarus back from the dead. Lievens keeps it dark and restrained. He gives Lazarus only two pale hands rising out of the tomb, and lets the night and a cold grey light carry the drama rather than any grand gesture. Rembrandt liked the picture enough to buy it and hang it in his own house. Years later, when Rembrandt's finances collapsed and his goods were sold off, this was among the things that went. It reached Brighton in 1903, the gift of a local collector.