Focus on Copies by Vincent van Gogh and analyze the Copies after Rembrandt.
From Rembrandt, Van Gogh learned how to paint light into darkness.  Rembrandt's influence seemed present one evening in 1877 when Van Gogh walked through Amsterdam.  He wrote: "the ground was dark, the sky still lit by the glow of the sun, already gone down, the row of houses and towers standing out above, the lights in the windows everywhere, everything reflected in the water." Van Gogh found Rembrandt particularly adept at his observation of nature and expressing emotion with great tenderness.It's not clear if Van Gogh was copying after particular Rembrandt works for his copies or the spirit of the figures he portrayed.  Examples of Rembrandt's angels and Lazarus are here for illustrative purposes.			
			
		
		
			
			
		
		
			
			
		
		
			
			
		
In Van Gogh's version of The Raising of Lazarus (after Rembrandt), Christ is depicted symbolically through the sun to evoke the healing powers of faith.  Christ is further referenced in two ways by the setting and circumstance.  First, miraculously, he brought Lazarus back to life again.  It also foretold Christ's own death and resurrection. 
The painting includes the dead Lazarus and his two sisters. White, yellow and violet were used for Lazarus and the cave.  One of the women is in a vibrant green dress and orange hair.  The other wears a striped green and pink gown and has black hair.  Behind them is the countryside of blue and a bright yellow sun.In The Raising of Lazarus (after Rembrandt), van Gogh drastically trimmed the composition of Rembrandt's etching and eliminated the figure of Christ, thus focusing on Lazarus and his sisters. It is speculated that in their countenances may be detected the likenesses of the artist and his friends Augustine Rouline and Marie Ginoux. Van Gogh had just recovered from a lengthy episode of illness, and he may have identified with the miracle of the biblical resurrection, whose "personalities are the characters of my dreams."
Amsterdam Lazarus Rembrandt's after Rembrandt