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Presents and explores the seven known oil sketches of Christ on oak panels by Rembrandt, along with over 60 paintings, drawings and prints by him and his pupils.

Fifteen etchings from the life of Christ by the incomparable Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69), with a commentary highlighting each scene's religious significance. When Rembrandt was a young artist in 17th-century Holland, paintings and statues had been removed from Protestant churches. But people still desired to see Jesus. They wanted pictures of the life of Christ in their Bibles and prayer books and to hang on their walls at home. Rembrandt was working in a long tradition of Eastern and Western Christian artists who made images of Jesus that reveal him as Emmanuel, as God with us. They are not trying to depict God-impossible!-or simply show the human side of Jesus. Rather, they show us a human life radiating the light and force, the energy, of God. When an artist approaches the making of an image of Jesus in a spirit of prayer and reverence, as Rembrandt seems to have done, the result is an image that invites us to open ourselves to God's action. Such an invitation-to let God transform us through the contemplation of a prayerful image-is similar to opening ourselves to the word of God in slow, meditative reading of the Bible. In using visual images in prayer, the "viewer" takes the opportunity to pause and to ruminate, exploring the depths of the image, so that heart speaks to heart in silent communion.

How do art and faith intersect? How does art help us see our own lives more clearly? What can we understand about God and humanity by looking at the lives of artists? Striving for beauty, art also reveals what is broken. It presents us with the tremendous struggles and longings common to the human experience. And it says a lot about our Creator too. Great works of art can speak to the soul in a unique way. Rembrandt Is in the Wind is an invitation to discover some of the world's most celebrated artists and works and how each of them illuminates something about God, people, and the purpose of life. Part art history, part biblical study, part philosophy, and part analysis of the human experience, this book is nonetheless all story. From Michelangelo to Vincent van Gogh to Edward Hopper, the lives of the artists in this book illustrate the struggle of living in this world and point to the beauty of the redemption available to us in Christ. Each story is different. Some conclude with resounding triumph while others end in struggle. But all of them raise important questions about humanity's hunger and capacity for glory, and all of them teach us to love and see beauty. "The artists featured in these pages—artists who devoted their lives and work to what is good, true, and beautiful—remind us that we can, and should, do the same." —Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well