The Arrest of Christ, c.1628/30 Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Sir Anthony van Dyck also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting The Arrest of Christ is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

In Sir Anthony van Dyck's "The Arrest of Christ," the tension crackles across the canvas like a storm about to break. It's a scene that pivots on chaos - a band of figures hurling themselves violently at Christ, with their faces twisted in the frantic mix of anger and fear. Yet there, in the middle of it all, stands Christ - serenely resigned, His arm gently lifted in a gesture that's almost casual, as if to say, "Let it happen." He is the still point around which this maelstrom swirls.

Van Dyck, still a very young artist, channels his inner Rubens here, but there's a maturity simmering under the surface, a sense of restraint despite the fury. The colors are dark and brooding, drenched in deep blues and blood-soaked reds. There's a chiaroscuro at play - not quite Caravaggesque, but certainly leaning on those dramatic contrasts between light and shadow. Christ’s robe, with that rich, velvety red, serves as a visual anchor amidst the frenzy of writhing bodies and flailing limbs.

Compositionally, van Dyck orchestrates a perfect storm. The torches light the soldiers’ faces, casting wild shadows that leap off the canvas, as they lean into the action. The figures tumble toward Christ like a wave, the chaos heightened by the twisted posture of the fallen figure in the foreground, perhaps one of the most Rubens-like elements of the piece. The flow is all forward motion, yet Christ stands firm - the eye is led straight to His calm, almost sorrowful expression, as though He knows that this is simply the next act in a drama that has already been written.

What’s remarkable here is how van Dyck manages to capture both the raw, kinetic energy of the moment and the deeper emotional weight. It’s more than just an arrest - it’s a clash between earthly chaos and divine peace, rendered with the bold brushstrokes and sumptuous colors of a young artist just beginning to carve out his own identity.