,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,slav ,,prince #afcg4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,,rembrandt ,,by ,,mortimer ,,menpes ,,with ,,an ,,essay ,,on ,,the ,,life ,,and ,,work ,,of ,,rembrandt ,,by ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind ,,london ,,adam ,,and ,,charles ,,black #aije ,,preface ,although ,i am familiar with ,rembrandt's work1 through photographs and black and white reproductions1 ,i invariably experience a shock from the colour standpoint whenever ,i come in touch with one of his pictures4 ,i was especially struck with that masterpiece of his at the ,hermitage1 called the ,slav ,prince1 which1 by the way1 ,i am convinced is a portrait of himself2 any one who has had the idea suggested cannot doubt it for a moment2 it is ,rembrandt's own face without question4 ,the reproductions ,i have seen of this picture1 and1 in fact1 of all ,rembrandt's works1 are so poor and so unsatisfactory that ,i was determined1 after my visit to ,st4 ,petersburg1 to devise a means by which facsimile reproductions in colour of ,rembrandt's pictures could be set before the public4 ,the black and white reproductions and the photographs ,i put on one side at once1 because of the impossibility of suggesting colour thereby4 ,rembrandt has been reproduced in photograph and photogravure1 and by every mechanical process imaginable1 but all such reproductions are not only disappointing1 but wrong4 ,the light and shade have never been given their true value1 and as for colour1 it has scarcely been attempted4 ,after many years of careful thought and consideration as to the best1 or the only possible1 manner of giving to those who love the master a work which should really be a genuine reproduction of his pictures1 ,i have adapted and developed the modern process of colour printing1 so as to bring it into sympathy with the subject4 ,for the first time these masterpieces1 with all the rich1 deep colouring1 can be in the possession of every one--in the possession of the connoisseur1 who knows and loves the originals but can scarcely ever see them1 and in that of the novice1 who hardly knows the emotions familiar to those who have made a study of the great masters1 but is desirous of learning4 ,at the ,hermitage in ,st4 ,petersburg ,i was specially privileged--,i was allowed to study these priceless works with the glass off and in moments of bright sunlight--to see those sweeps of rich colour1 so full1 so clear1 so transparent1 and broken in places1 allowing the undertones to show through4 ,i myself have made copies of a hundred ,rembrandts in order to understand more completely his method of work4 ,and in copying these pictures certain qualities have been revealed to me which no one could possibly have learnt except by this means4 ,rembrandt worked more or less in two stages3 first1 by a carefully-painted monochrome1 handled in such a way as to give texture as well as drawing1 and in which the masses of light and shade are defined in a masterly manner2 second1 by putting on the rich1 golden colour--mostly in the form of glazes1 but with a full brush4 ,this method of handling glazes over monochrome has given a gem-like quality to ,rembrandt's work1 so much so that you might cut out any square inch from any portion of his pictures and wear it as a jewel4 ,and in all his paintings there is the same decorative quality that ,i have before alluded to3 any picture by ,rembrandt arrests you as a decorative patch--the grouping and design1 and1 above all1 the balance of light and shade1 are perfect4 ,,mortimer ,,menpes4 ,july #aije4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,recoverers ,,of ,,rembrandt ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,appeal ,,of ,,the ,,paintings ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,appeal ,,of ,,the ,,etchings ,,chapter ,,iv ,,epochs ,,in ,,rembrandt',s ,,life ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,great ,,triumvirate ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations #a4 ,portrait of a ,slav ,prince ,frontispiece #b4 ,portrait of a ,woman of ,eighty-three #c4 ,a ,rabbi ,seated1 a ,stick in his ,hands and a ,high ,feather in his ,cap #d4 ,the ,holy ,family with the ,angels #e4 ,portrait of a ,savant #f4 ,an ,old ,man with a ,long ,white ,beard1 ,seated1 wearing a ,wide ,cap1 his ,hands folded #g4 ,rembrandt leaning on a ,stone ,sill #h4 ,reconciliation between ,david and ,absalom #i4 ,an ,old ,woman in an ,arm ,chair1 with a ,black ,head-cloth #aj4 ,minerva #aa4 ,titus in a ,red ,cap and a ,gold ,chain #ab4 ,portrait of an ,old ,lady1 ,full ,face1 her ,hands folded #ac4 ,portrait of an ,old ,lady in a ,velvet ,hood1 her ,hands folded #ad4 ,flora with a ,flower-trimmed ,crook #ae4 ,the ,descent from the ,cross #af4 ,a ,young ,woman in a ,red ,chair holding a ,pink in her ,right ,hand ,the illustrations in this volume have been engraved and printed at the ,menpes ,press4 ,,rembrandt ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,recoverers ,,of ,,rembrandt ,imagine a man1 a citizen of ,london1 healthy1 middle-aged1 successful in business1 whose interest in golf is as keen1 according to his lights and limitations1 as the absorption of ,rembrandt in art4 ,suppose this citizen1 having one day a loose half-hour of time to fill in the neighbourhood of ,south ,kensington1 remembers the articles he has skimmed in the papers about the ,constantine ,ionides bequest3 suppose he strolls into the ,museum and asks his way of a patient policeman to the ,ionides collection4 ,suppose he stands before the revolving frame of ,rembrandt etchings1 idly pushing from right to left the varied creations of the master1 would he be charmed8 would his imagination be stirred8 ,perhaps so3 perhaps not4 ,perhaps1 being a man of importance in the city1 knowing the markets1 his eye-brows would unconsciously elevate themselves1 and his lips shape into the position that produces the polite movement of astonishment1 if some one whispered in his ear--,at the ,holford sale the ,hundred ,guilder ,print fetched #agej1 and ,ephraim ,bonus with the ,black ,ring1 #aiej2 and ,m4 ,edmund de ,rothschild paid #aafj for a first state of the ,dr4 ,a4 ,tholinx4 ,those figures might stimulate his curiosity1 but being1 as ,i have said1 a golfer1 his interest in ,rembrandt would certainly receive a quick impulse when he observed in the revolving frame the etching ,no4 #fhc1 #b-g_/h inches wide1 #e-a_/h inches high1 called ,the ,sport of ,kolef or ,golf4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,woman ,,of ,,eighty-,,three #afcd4 ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,is it fantastical to assume that his interest in ,rembrandt dated from that little golf etching8 ,great events ofttimes spring from small causes4 ,we will follow the ,rembrandtish adventures of this citizen of ,london1 and golfer4 ,suppose that on his homeward way from the ,museum he stopped at a book shop and bought ,m4 ,auguste ,bral's small1 accomplished book on ,rembrandt4 ,having read it1 and being a man of leisure1 means1 and grip1 he naturally invested one guinea in the monumental tome of ,m4 mile ,michel1 ,member of the ,institute of ,france--that mine of learning about ,rembrandt in which all modern writers on the master delve4 ,astonishment would be his companion while reading its packed pages1 also while turning the leaves of ,l',oeuvre de ,rembrandt1 dcrit et comment1 par ,m4 ,charles ,blanc1 de l',academie ,franaise4 ,this sumptuous folio he picked up second hand and conveyed home in a cab1 because it was too heavy to carry4 ,now he is fairly started on his journey through the ,rembrandt country1 and as he pursues his way1 what is the emotion that dominates him8 ,amazement1 ,i think4 ,let me illustrate the extent and character of his amazement by describing a little incident that happened to him during a day's golfing at a seaside course on the following ,saturday4 ,the approach to the sixteenth green is undeniably sporting4 ,across the course hangs the shoulder of a hill1 and from the fastnesses of the hill a brook gushes down to the sea through the boulders that bestrew its banks4 ,obliged to wait until the preceding couple had holed out1 our citizen and golfer amused himself by upturning one of the great lichen-stained boulders4 ,he gazed into the dank pit thus disclosed to his eyes1 and half drew back dismayed at the extraordinary activity of insect life that was revealed4 ,it was so sudden1 so unexpected4 ,beneath that grey and solemn boulder that ,time and man accepted as a freehold tenant of the world1 that our citizen had seen and passed a hundred times1 a population of experts were working1 their deeds unseen by the wayfarer4 ,now what is the meaning of this little story8 ,how did the discovery of that horde of capable experts strike the imagination of our golfer8 ,the boulder was ,rembrandt4 ,the busy insects were the learned and patient students working quietly on his behalf--his discoverers and recoverers4 ,he had passed that boulder a hundred times1 his eyes had rested cursorily upon it as often as the name of ,rembrandt in book or newspaper had met his indifferent gaze4 ,now he had raised the boulder1 as he had lifted the ,rembrandt curtain1 and lo6 behind the curtain1 as beneath the boulder1 he had discovered life miraculously active4 ,reverence for the students of art1 for the specialists1 for the scientific historians1 was born within him as he pursued his studies in ,rembrandt lore4 ,also he was conscious of sorrow1 anger1 and pride3 sorrow for the artist of genius who goes down to his grave neglected1 unwept1 unhonoured1 and unsung3 anger at the stupidity and blindness of his contemporaries3 pride at the unselfish industry and ceaseless activity of the men who1 born years after1 raise the master to his throne4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,rabbi ,,seated1 ,a ,,stick ,,in ,,his ,,hands ,,and ,a ,,high ,,feather ,,in ,,his ,,cap #afde4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,in the year #affi an old ,dutchman called ,rembrandt dies in obscurity in ,amsterdam4 ,so unmemorable was the death deemed that no contemporary document makes mention of it4 ,the passing of ,rembrandt was simply noted1 baldly and briefly1 in the death-register of the ,wester ,kerk3 ,tuesday1 ,october #h1 #affi2 ,rembrandt van ,ryn1 painter on the ,roozegraft1 opposite the ,doolhof4 ,leaves two children4 ,yet once1 while he was alive1 before he painted ,the ,night ,watch1 he had been the most famous painter in ,holland4 ,later1 oblivion encompassed the old lion1 and little he cared so long as he could work at his art4 ,forty years after his death1 ,gerard de ,lairesse1 a popular painter1 now forgotten1 wrote of ,rembrandt--,in his efforts to attain a yellow manner1 ,rembrandt merely achieved an effect of rottenness4444 ,the vulgar and prosaic aspects of a subject were the only ones he was capable of noting4 ,poor ,gerard de ,lairesse6 ,to-day not a turn or a twist of his life1 not a facet of his temperament1 not an individual of his family1 friends1 or acquaintances1 not the slightest scrap of paper bearing the mark of his hand1 but has been peered into1 scrutinised1 tracked to its source1 and written about voluminously4 ,the bibliography of ,rembrandt would fill a library4 ,several lengthy and learned catalogues of his works have been published in volumes so large that a child could not lift one of them4 ,his #dej pictures1 his multitudinous drawings1 his #bgj etchings1 their authenticity1 their history1 their dates1 the identification of his models1 have been the subjects of innumerable books and essays4 ,why1 it would have taken our golfer three months just to read what has been written about one of ,rembrandt's pictures--that known as ,the ,night ,watch4 ,he might have begun with ,bredius and ,meyer of ,holland1 and ,m4 ,durand-,greville of ,france1 and would then have been only at the beginning of his task4 ,people make the long journey to ,st4 ,petersburg for the sake of the #ce pictures by ,rembrandt that the ,hermitage contains4 ,he is hailed to-day as the greatest etcher the world has ever known1 and there are some who place him at the head of that noble triumvirate who stand on the summit of the painters' ,parnassus1 ,velasquez1 ,titian1 and ,rembrandt4 ,having browsed and battened on ,rembrandt1 and noted the countless cosmopolitan workers that for fifty years have been excavating the country marked on the art map ,rembrandt1 you can perhaps understand why our golfer likened the work of his commentators to the incessant activity that his upturning of that grey1 lichen-covered boulder revealed4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,holy ,,family ,,with ,,the ,,angels #afde4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,but had our golfer1 brimming with the modern passion for efficiency1 learned foreign tongues1 and browsed in the musty archives1 he would have discovered that there was much to unlearn4 ,the early scribes piled fancy upon invention1 believing or pretending that ,rembrandt was a miser1 a profligate1 a spendthrift1 and so on4 ,houbraken's facts1 we read1 are interwoven with a mass of those suspicious anecdotes which adorn the plain tale of so many artistic biographies4 ,campo-,weyermann1 ,dargenville1 ,descamps1 and others added further embellishments1 boldly piling fable upon fable for the amusement of their readers1 till legend gradually ousted truth4 ,all this and much more he would have had to unlearn1 discovering in the end the simple truth that ,rembrandt lived for his art2 that he loved and was kind to his wife and to the servant girl who1 when ,saskia died1 filled her place2 that he was neither saint nor sinner2 that he was extravagant because beautiful things cost money2 that being an artist he did not manage his affairs with the wisdom of a man of the world2 that he was hot-headed1 and played a hot-headed man's part in the family quarrels2 and that he was plucky and improvident1 and probably untidy to the end1 and that he did his best work when the buffets of fate were heaviest4 ,the new era in ,rembrandt literature began with ,kolloff's ,rembrandt's ,leben und ,werke1 published in #ahed4 ,this contribution to truth was followed by the works of ,messrs4 ,brger and ,vosmaer1 by the lucubrations of other meritorious bookworms1 by the studies of ,messrs4 ,bode and ,bredius1 and finally by ,m4 mile ,michel's ,life1 which is the definitive and standard work on ,rembrandt4 ,our golfer1 whose ,french is a little rusty1 was delighted to find when he gave the order for this book that it had been translated into ,english under the editorship of ,mr4 ,frederick ,wedmore4 ,it was in the third edition4 ,he learned much from ,m4 mile ,michel--among other things the herculean labour that is necessary if one desires to write a standard and definitive book on a subject4 ,not only did ,m4 ,michel visit and revisit all the galleries where ,rembrandt's pictures are displayed in ,russia1 ,france1 ,england1 ,sweden1 ,denmark1 and ,north ,germany1 but he lived for several years with ,rembrandt1 surrounded by reproductions of his pictures1 drawings1 and etchings1 and by documents bearing on their history1 his mind all the while intently fixed on the facts of ,rembrandt's life and the achievements of his genius4 ,gradually the procession of dates and facts took on a new significance2 the heterogeneous threads of information wove themselves into the fabric of a life4 ,m4 ,michel is the recoverer-in-chief of all that truly happened during the sixty-three years that ,rembrandt passed upon this earth4 ,every dead painter1 poet1 or writer of genius1 has had his ,recoverer4 ,a searchlight has flashed upon all that ,charles ,lamb said1 did1 or wrote4 ,every forerunner who inspired ,keats1 from the day when he took the ,faerie ,queene like a fever1 and went through it as a young horse through a spring meadow1 romping1 has been considered and analysed4 ,you could bury ,keats and ,lamb in the tomes that have been written about them4 ,with the books of his commentators you could raise a mighty monument of paper and bindings to ,rembrandt4 ,all this is very right and most worthy of regard4 ,we do not sing ,for they are jolly good fellows in their honour1 but we offer them our profound respect and gratitude4 ,and our golfer1 in his amateurish way1 belongs to the tribe4 ,he has approached ,rembrandt through books4 ,his temperament enjoyed exploring the library hive marked ,rembrandt4 ,now he feels that he must study the works of the master1 and while he is cogitating whether he shall first examine the #ce pictures at ,st4 ,petersburg1 or the #bj in the ,louvre1 or the #bj at ,cassel1 or the #ag at ,berlin1 or the #af at ,dresden1 or the #ab in the ,national ,gallery1 or the etchings and drawings in the print room of the ,british ,museum1 or the frame of etchings at ,south ,kensington1 so accessible1 ,i drop him4 ,yes3 drop him in favour of another who did not care two pins about the history or the politics of art1 or the rights or wrongs of ,rembrandt's life1 but went straight to his pictures and etchings1 wondered at them1 and was filled with an incommunicable joy4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,appeal ,,of ,,the ,,paintings ,suppose our citizen and golfer1 deliberately dropped in the preceding chapter1 had a child1 a son1 who by a freak of heredity was brooding and imaginative1 fond1 in a childish way1 of pictures and books1 but quite indifferent to scientific criticism and the methods of the analytic men4 ,during his school holidays his mother would take him to the pantomime1 and to the ,national ,gallery4 ,dazed1 he would scan the walls of pictures1 wondering why so many of them dealt with ,scriptural subjects1 and why some were so coloured1 and others so dim4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,savant #afca4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,but after the third or fourth visit this child began to recognise favourites among the pictures1 and being somewhat melancholy and mystical by nature1 liking trees1 beechwood glades1 cathedral aisles1 and the end of day1 he would drag upon his mother's arm when they passed two pictures hanging together in the ,dutch room4 ,one was called ,the ,woman taken in ,adultery1 the other1 ,the ,adoration of the ,shepherds4 ,these pictures by ,rembrandt attracted him3 they were so different from anything else in the gallery4 ,he did not trouble to understand their meaning2 he did not dwell upon the beauty of the still figure of ,christ1 or note that the illumination in ,the ,adoration of the ,shepherds proceeded from the supernatural light that shines from the ,infant ,jesus4 ,what captivated him was the vastness contained in these small pictures1 and the eerie way in which the light was separated from the dark4 ,he had never seen anything like it before1 but these pictures made him long to be grown up and able to seek such sights4 ,he could see the lurking shadows alone in his bed at night1 and held his breath when he thought of the great darkness that stretched out to the frames of the pictures4 ,he wondered if temples were really as mysterious and dim as the great building that loomed above the small dazzling figure of the kneeling penitent and that horrid man who1 his mother told him1 was one of her accusers4 ,when she came into his bedroom to see that he was safely tucked up for the night1 this child asked his mother why ,rembrandt's pictures were so different from the pictures of other painters4 ,she explained that ,rembrandt was a great master of chiaroscuro1 making a valiant attempt to pronounce the uncomfortable word4 ,what does that mean8 asked the little boy4 ,it--er--means--,one moment1 dear2 ,i think ,i hear your father calling4 ,she ran downstairs and consulted the dictionary4 ,a chiaroscurist1 she told her little boy when she returned to the bedroom1 is a painter who cares for and studies light and shade rather than colour4 ,now go to sleep4 ,you're too young to bother about such things4 ,this child's mother was an ardent ,ruskinian4 ,observing that her husband1 the citizen and golfer1 was asleep in his chair when she returned from her son's bedroom1 she stepped into the library1 picked ,modern ,painters from the shelf1 and read the following passages1 gravely shaking her head occasionally as she read4 444 ,rembrandt always chooses to represent the exact force with which the light on the most illumined part of an object is opposed to its obscurer portions4 ,in order to obtain this1 in most cases1 not very important truth1 he sacrifices the light and colour of five-sixths of his picture2 and the expression of every character of objects which depends on tenderness of shape or tint4 ,but he obtains his single truth1 and what picturesque and forcible expression is dependent upon it1 with magnificent skill and subtlety4 444 ,his love of darkness led also to a loss of the spiritual element1 and was itself the reflection of a sombre mind4444 444 ,i cannot feel it an entirely glorious speciality to be distinguished1 as ,rembrandt was1 from other great painters1 chiefly by the liveliness of his darkness and the dulness of his light4 ,glorious or inglorious1 the speciality itself is easily and accurately definable4 ,it is the aim of the best painters to paint the noblest things they can see by sunlight4 ,it was the aim of ,rembrandt to paint the foulest things he could see--by rushlight4444 ,had ,ruskin1 one wonders1 ever seen ,the ,syndics at ,amsterdam1 or the ,portrait of his ,mother1 and the ,singing ,boy at ,vienna1 or ,the ,old ,woman at ,st4 ,petersburg1 or the ,christ at ,emmaus at the ,louvre1 or any of the etchings8 ,the time came when the child was allowed to visit the ,national ,gallery unattended2 but although he never lost his affectionate awe for the two dim interiors1 he did not really begin to appreciate ,rembrandt until he had reached manhood4 ,rembrandt is too learned in the pathos of life1 too deeply versed in realities1 to win the suffrages of youth4 ,but he was attracted by another portrait in the ,national ,gallery--that called ,a ,jewish ,rabbi4 ,this was the first likeness he had seen of a ,rabbi1 a personality dimly familiar to him through the lessons in church and his school ,scripture class4 ,remembering what his mother had told him about chiaroscuro1 he noted how the golden-brown light is centred upon the lower part of the face2 how the forehead is in shadow1 and how stealthily the black hat and coat creep out from the dark background4 ,he had never seen1 and never could have imagined1 such a sad face4 ,this ,rabbi seemed to be crouching into the picture as he dimly understood that ,jews in all ages1 except those who owned diamond mines in ,south ,africa1 had cringed under the hand of their oppressors4 ,he wondered how ,rembrandt knew what a ,rabbi was like4 ,his father might have told him that ,rembrandt's pencil and brush were never idle1 that he was for ever making pictures of himself1 of his father1 of his mother1 of his wife1 of his children and relations1 of every interesting type that came within the ken of his piercing eyes2 that one day1 when he was prowling about the ,jews' quarter at ,amsterdam1 he saw an old1 tired1 wistful ,hebrew sitting in the door of his shop1 engaged him in conversation1 persuaded him to sit for his portrait1 and lo6 the nameless ,amsterdam ,jew became immortal4 ,illustration3 ,,an ,,old ,,man ,,with ,a ,,long ,,white ,,beard1 ,,seated1 ,,wearing ,a ,,wide ,,cap1 ,,his ,,hands ,,folded #afed4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,his father might also have told him 7perhaps he did7 that the artist1 wherever he goes1 sometimes hardly aware of his preoccupation1 is always selecting subjects to paint1 and brooding over the method of treatment2 that one day ,rembrandt noted with amusement a man in the street shaking his fist at the skull-capped head of an older man bobbing angrily from a window4 ,rembrandt chuckled1 remembered the incident1 painted it1 and called it1 for a picture must have a title1 ,samson threatening his ,father-in-law2 that one day ,rembrandt saw a fair-haired1 chubby boy learning his lessons at his mother's knee4 ,the composition appealed to his artist eye1 he painted it1 and the result is that beautiful and touching picture in the ,hermitage ,gallery at ,st4 ,petersburg called ,hannah teaching ,samuel his ,lessons4 ,to a child1 the portrait of a painter by himself has a human interest apart altogether from its claim to be a work of art4 ,rembrandt's portrait of himself at the ,national ,gallery1 painted when he was thirty-two1 is not one of his remarkable achievements4 ,it is a little timid in the handling1 but that it is an excellent likeness none can doubt4 ,this bold-eyed1 quietly observant1 jolly-looking man was not quite the presentment of ,rembrandt that the child had imagined2 but ,rembrandt at this period was something of a sumptuous dandy1 proud of his brave looks and his fur-trimmed mantle4 ,life was his province4 ,no subject was vulgar to him so long as it presented problems of light and construction and drawing4 ,rembrandt1 like ,montaigne1 was never didactic4 ,he looked at life through his eyes and through his imagination1 and related his adventures4 ,one day it was a flayed ox hanging outside a butcher's shop1 which he saw through his eyes2 another day it was ,christ healing the sick1 which he saw through his imagination4 ,you can imagine the healthy1 full-blooded ,rembrandt of this portrait painting the ,carcase of a ,bullock at the ,louvre1 or that prank called ,the ,rape of ,ganymede1 or that delightful1 laughing picture of his wife sitting upon his knee at ,dresden1 which ,ruskin disliked4 ,the other portrait of ,rembrandt by himself at the ,national ,gallery shows that he was not a vain man1 and that he was just as honest with himself as with his other sitters4 ,it was painted when he was old and ailing and time-marked1 five years before his death4 ,his hands are clasped1 and he seems to be saying--,look at me6 ,that is what ,i am like now1 an old1 much bothered man1 bankrupt1 without a home1 but happy enough so long as ,i have some sort of a roof above me under which ,i can paint4 ,i am he of whom it was said that he was famous when he was beardless4 ,observe me now6 ,what care ,i so that ,i can still see the world and the men and women about me--',when ,i want rest for my mind1 it is not honours ,i crave1 but liberty4' ,illustration3 ,,rembrandt ,,leaning ,,on ,a ,,stone ,,sill #afdj4 ,national ,gallery1 ,london4 ,twenty-eight seemed a great age to the child2 but he thought it wonderful that the portrait of an ,old ,lady at the ,national ,gallery should have been painted when ,rembrandt was but twenty-eight4 ,she was too strong and determined for his liking1 and he wondered why some of ,rembrandt's pictures1 like ,the ,woman taken in ,adultery1 should be so mysterious and poetical1 and others like this old lady so lifelike and straightforward4 ,he was too young to understand that the composition of the fortuitous concourse of atoms called ,rembrandt1 included not only the power that ,velasquez possessed in so supreme a degree of painting just what his eyes saw1 exemplified by this portrait of ,an ,old ,lady1 aged #hc1 and by the portrait of ,elizabeth ,bas at ,amsterdam1 but that it also included the great gift of creative imagination1 exemplified by the ,christ at ,emmaus1 and ,the ,good ,samaritan of the ,louvre1 and in a way by the ,portrait of a ,slav ,prince at the ,hermitage1 where a man in the alembic of ,rembrandt's imagination has become a type4 ,also in ,the ,reconciliation of ,david and ,absalom at the ,hermitage1 where behind the sham trappings of the figures shine the eternal motives of reconciliation and forgiveness4 ,when the child was much older he saw the ,christ at ,emmaus1 and ,the ,good ,samaritan in the little room at the ,louvre1 hanging side by side1 and he never forget the hour that he spent with them4 ,he had seen1 year by year1 many of the world's pictures2 but at the sight of these two works1 his childish predilection for ,rembrandt became a deep-rooted reverence and admiration1 which was never to pass from him4 ,here was ,rembrandt the seer1 the man who had suffered4 ,saskia was dead1 his popularity gone2 but the effect of these things was but to fill his heart with a world sympathy1 with pity for all who sorrow4 ,again and again he treated the ,christ at ,emmaus1 ,the ,good ,samaritan1 and ,the ,prodigal ,son themes4 ,some strange presentment of his own fate1 says ,m4 ,michel1 seems to have haunted the artist1 making him keenly susceptible to the story of ,the ,good ,samaritan4 ,he too was destined to be stripped and wounded by ,life's wayside1 while many passed him by unheeding4 ,the ,christ at ,emmaus is a small picture1 and small the figures appear in that vast1 dimly lighted chamber where the three are seated at table4 ,the spiritual significance of ,christ is suggested by most simple means4 ,light1 and intensity of emotion1 are the only aids4 ,rembrandt disdains all other effects4 ,intense feeling pervades the picture1 even in the bare feet of ,christ1 even in the astonished hand of the disciple resting upon the chair2 even in the back of the other disciple who gazes1 with clasped hands1 transfixed with amazement and love at the face of his ,master1 who has just broken bread and thus revealed ,himself4 ,illustration3 ,,reconciliation ,,between ,,david ,,and ,,absalom #afdb4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,of all ,rembrandt's pictures1 this was the one that made the profoundest impression upon the child when he had become a man4 ,other works1 such as ,the ,shipbuilder and his ,wife at ,buckingham ,palace1 ,the ,syndics of the ,drapers at ,amsterdam1 that ripe expression of ,rembrandt's ripest powers1 convinced him of the master's genius4 ,he was deeply impressed by the range of portraits and subject-pictures at the ,hermitage ,gallery1 many of which1 by the art of ,mr4 ,mortimer ,menpes1 have been brought to the fireside of the untravelled2 but the ,christ at ,emmaus revealed to him the heart of ,rembrandt1 and showed him1 once and for all1 to what heights a painter may attain when intense feeling is allied with superb craftsmanship4 ,he found this intensity of emotion again in the ,portrait of his ,mother at ,vienna4 ,the light falls upon her battered1 wrinkled face1 the lips are parted as in extreme age1 the hands1 so magnificently painted1 are folded upon her stick4 ,when we look at ,rembrandt's portrait of ,an ,old ,woman at the ,hermitage ,gallery1 with that touch of red so artfully and fittingly peeping out from between the folds of her white scarf1 we feel that he can say nothing more about old age1 sad1 quiescent1 but not unhappy2 when we look at the portrait of ,an ,old ,lady in the ,national ,gallery 7,no4 #afge7 we feel that he can tell us no more about old age that still retains something that is petty and eager2 but in the portrait of his mother at ,vienna1 ,rembrandt1 soaring1 gives us quite another view of old age4 ,it is the ancient face of a mother painted by a son who loved her1 who had studied that face a thousand times1 every line1 and light1 and aspect of the features1 and who stated all his love and knowledge upon a canvas4 ,rembrandt was always inspired when he painted his own family4 ,there is a quality about his portraits of father1 mother1 ,saskia1 ,titus1 and ,hendrickje1 yes6 and of himself1 that speaks to us as if we were intimates4 ,it is a personal appeal4 ,we find it in every presentment that ,rembrandt gives us of another figure which constantly inspired his brush--the figure of ,christ4 ,in ,the ,woman taken in ,adultery1 it is ,his figure that is articulate3 it is the figure of ,christ in the ,emmaus picture that amazes3 it is the figure of ,christ that haunts us in a dozen of the etchings4 ,slowly the child1 now become a man1 began1 as he thought1 to understand ,rembrandt4 ,why did ,the ,singing ,boy at ,vienna1 apart from the quality of the painting1 and the joy depicted on that young smiling face1 make a personal appeal to him8 ,because he is ,rembrandt's son1 ,titus2 or if ,titus was not actually the model1 the features and the smile of ,titus hovered between the father and the canvas4 ,illustration3 ,,an ,,old ,,woman ,,in ,,an ,,arm ,,chair1 ,,with ,a ,,black ,,head-,,cloth #afed4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,he found an authentic portrait of ,titus in the ,wallace collection1 painted in #afeg1 the year after ,rembrandt had become bankrupt4 ,it is one of the most charming portraits the master ever produced1 a picture that even the most casual frequenter of galleries must pause before and love4 ,a red cap crowns his curly hair1 which falls to his shoulders4 ,the face has a sweet expression2 but the observant can detect traces of ill-health upon it4 ,titus died before his father4 ,father1 mother1 ,saskia1 ,hendrickje1 ,titus1 had all gone when the old man passed to his rest4 ,on the opposite wall at the ,wallace collection is ,the ,parable of the ,unmerciful ,servant1 a fine example of ,rembrandt the chiaroscurist1 straightforward1 but touched with that mystery so rare in painting1 but which1 under certain conditions1 was as natural to ,rembrandt as drawing4 ,it is not always present in his work4 ,none can say that there is any mystery about the sober portrait pictures called ,the ,wife of ,jan ,pellicorne with her ,daughter1 and ,burgomaster ,jan ,pellicorne with his ,son1 in the ,wallace collection4 ,a scriptural subject was needed to inspire ,rembrandt's brush with the sense of mystery4 ,it was the mystery of two pictures at the ,national ,gallery that first drew the child to ,rembrandt3 it was the etchings that gave him a deeper insight into ,rembrandt's sense of mystery1 and made of him a willing ,gamaliel at the master's feet4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,appeal ,,of ,,the ,,etchings ,the citizen and golfer1 whose commerce with ,rembrandt was narrated in the first chapter1 approached the master through the writings of his ,recoverers1 certain art historians and scholars1 who frequent libraries1 search archives1 and peruse documents2 men to whom a picture is a scientific document rather than an emotional or intellectual experience4 ,he was well content to end his commerce with ,rembrandt there4 ,history interested him3 to art he was apathetic4 ,his son1 as was indicated in the second chapter1 was indifferent to art history1 and he would not have walked across the road to read an unedited document2 but ,i see him tramping ten miles to seek a picture that promised to stir his emotions and stimulate his imagination4 ,rembrandt1 the maker of pictures1 had become a vivid personality1 a master whom he reverenced2 but ,rembrandt the etcher was unknown to him4 ,there are authorities who assert that in etching ,rembrandt's art found its amplest and most exquisite expression4 ,none will deny that his is the greatest name in etching4 ,if all ,rembrandt's pictures were destroyed1 if every record of them by photograph or copy was blotted out1 the etchings alone would form so ample a testimony to his genius that the name of ,rembrandt would still remain among the foremost artists of the world4 ,rembrandt enjoyed a period of popularity with his pictures1 followed by years of decline and neglect1 when lesser and more accommodating men ousted him from popular favour4 ,but from first to last the products of his needle were appreciated by his contemporaries1 even if he himself did not set great store by them4 ,he began to etch early in life3 he ceased only when his eyesight failed4 ,he found in etching a congenial and natural means of self-expression4 ,his artistic fecundity threw them off in regal profusion4 ,the mood seized him3 he would take a prepared plate1 and sometimes1 having swiftly spent his emotion1 he did not trouble to do more than indicate the secondary incidents in a composition4 ,often he gave them away to friends and fellow-artists1 or tossed them1 when they had answered their purpose in his art life1 so continuously experimental1 into one of the sixty portfolios of leather recorded in the inventory of his property4 ,the history of ,christ ,healing the ,sick1 known as ,the ,hundred ,guilder ,print1 now the most prized of all the etchings1 shows that he did not attach much value1 either artistic or monetary1 to this plate4 ,he did not even receive a hundred guilders 7under #i7 for it1 but gave the etching to his friend ,jan ,zoomer in exchange for ,the ,pest1 by ,m4 ,anthony4 ,at the ,holford sale1 as has already been noted1 #agej was given for the ,hundred ,guilder ,print4 ,it is supposed that only two of the etchings were made expressly for publication--the ,descent from the ,cross1 and the ,ecce ,homo2 but ,rembrandt may have benefited from the sale of them through the partnership that was formed in #affj between his son ,titus and ,hendrickje ,stoffels4 ,illustration3 ,,minerva #afee4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,in the eighteenth century certain connoisseurs had already made collections of his etchings4 ,catalogues began to be published1 and in #agig ,adam ,bartsch1 keeper of the prints in the library at ,vienna1 issued the well-known catalogue that bears his name in two octavo volumes4 ,since ,bartsch's monumental work many students of the etchings have striven to sift the authentic from the false4 ,needless to say1 they disagree4 ,here are the figures3-- ,bartsch #cge authentic etchings4 ,wilson #cff ,claussin #cfe ,blanc #cec ,middleton-,wake #cbi de ,seidlitz #bfj ,legros #ga-aac ,m4 de ,seidlitz's list of #bfj was arrived at through consultation with several authorities1 and that number is now accepted as approximately correct4 ,our enthusiast knew nothing of the work of the labourers in ,rembrandt's etching vineyard4 ,he was quite ignorant of the expert contributions of ,sir ,francis ,haden1 ,p4,g4 ,hamerton1 and ,mr4 ,frederick ,wedmore1 although his father1 had he been a communicative man1 could have discoursed learnedly on their efforts4 ,fate so willed it that he came to ,rembrandt's etchings by chance1 and1 being sensitively alive to beauty and idealism1 they merged into his life1 and became as it were a personal possession4 ,on a certain day1 in the window of one of those delightful ,london shops where first editions1 prints1 pieces of pottery1 and odds and ends tempting to the virtuoso1 are exposed for sale1 he saw a small opulent picture by ,monticelli4 ,entering to inquire the price1 he discovered1 as he had feared1 that it was far beyond his bank balance4 ,at the invitation of the proprietor1 who seemed delighted that his goods should be admired1 he stayed to look round4 ,strewn upon a rosewood1 inlaid table were a hundred and more etchings4 ,many were quite small1 heads of men and women minutely and beautifully wrought2 others1 larger in size1 were ,biblical subjects2 some were weird and fantastical2 one1 for example1 showed a foreshortened figure lying before an erection1 upon which a skinny bird stood with outstretched wings1 flanked by ugly angel boys blowing trumpets4 ,illustration3 ,,titus ,,in ,a ,,red ,,cap ,,and ,a ,,gold ,,chain #afeg4 ,the ,wallace ,collection1 ,london4 ,the best are sold1 said the gentle proprietor4 ,the enthusiast was about to ask the name of the artist1 when he suddenly caught sight of the ,christ at ,emmaus4 ,his blood stirred in him4 ,that little shop became an altar of art1 and he an initiate4 ,it was not the same version as the ,louvre picture1 but only one mind--the mind of ,rembrandt1 only one heart--the heart of ,rembrandt1 could have so felt and stated the pathos and emotion of that scene4 ,controlling his excitement1 he turned over the prints and paused1 startled1 before ,abraham's ,sacrifice4 ,what was it that moved him8 ,he could hardly say4 ,but he was moved to an extraordinary degree by that angel standing1 with outstretched wings1 by ,abraham's side1 hiding the kneeling boy's eyes with his hand1 staying the knife at the supreme moment4 ,he turned the prints1 and paused again before ,the ,prodigal ,son4 ,some might call the face of the kneeling prodigal hideous1 might assert that the landscape was slight and unfinished1 that the figure in the doorway was too sketchy4 ,not so our enthusiast4 ,this was the ,prodigal ,son1 and as for the bending1 forgiving father1 all that he could imagine of forgiveness and pity was there realised in a few scratches of the needle4 ,he turned the prints and withdrew ,tobit ,blind4 ,in every line of this figure of the wandering old man1 tapping his stick upon the pavement1 feeling his way by the wall1 was blindness1 actual blindness--all the misery and loneliness and indignity of it4 ,are these for sale8 he asked the smiling proprietor1 without the slightest hope that he could afford one4 ,oh yes6 ,tobit ,blind you can have for two shillings and sixpence4 ,abraham's ,sacrifice1 ,christ at ,emmaus1 and ,the ,prodigal ,son are four shillings each4 ,the enthusiast could not conceal his astonishment4 ,i thought ,rembrandt's etchings cost hundreds of pounds1 he said4 ,they do1 but these are merely reproductions4 ,only a millionaire could hope to possess a complete collection of first states4 ,these are the reproductions that were issued with ,m4 ,blanc's catalogue4 ,he made them from the best proofs in his own collections1 and from the public museums4 ,you should compare them with the originals4 ,the difference will astonish you4 ,it's candle-light to sunlight1 satinette to the finest silk4 ,but where can ,i see the originals8 ,i don't know any millionaires4 ,nothing easier6 ,go to the ,print ,room of the ,british ,museum or to the ,ionides ,collection4 ,a day or two later the enthusiast1 carrying under his arm the roll of four ,rembrandt's etchings that he had purchased for fourteen shillings and sixpence1 ascended the stairs of the ,british ,museum1 and timidly opened the door marked1 ,print ,room4 ,students only4 ,his reception agreeably surprised him4 ,he1 an obscure person1 was treated as if he were a ,m4 ,michel4 ,an obliging boy requested him to hang his hat and coat upon a peg1 and to sign his name in a book4 ,an obliging youth waved him to a noble desk running at a right angle to a noble window1 and begged him to indicate his needs upon a slip of paper4 ,he inscribed the printed form with the words--,rembrandt's ,etchings and ,drawings4 ,the obliging youth scanned the document and said--,which do you wish to see8 ,there are many portfolios4 ,i can bring you one at a time4 ,do so1 if you please1 said the enthusiast4 ,i should like to examine them all1 even if it takes a week4 ,the obliging youth inclined his head and departed4 ,there is a delightful air of leisure and learning about the ,print ,room1 and an entire absence of hustle4 ,two students besides himself were the only other members of the public1 one studying ,holbein1 the other ,blake4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,an ,,old ,,lady1 ,,full ,,face1 ,,her ,,hands ,,folded #afda4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,the first portfolio that was brought to him contained the ,christ ,healing the ,sick1 known as ,the ,hundred ,guilder ,print1 in several states4 ,it was the first large etching by ,rembrandt that he had seen1 and he gazed with astonishment1 admiration1 and awe at the almost miraculous characterisation of the figures1 at the depth and richness of the blacks1 and the nobility of the conception4 ,he passed from that to ,the ,three ,crosses1 and was even more moved by the dramatic intensity and realism of those burdened crosses against the profound gloom1 and the dim1 poignantly realised figures in the foreground4 ,he saw the ,christ before ,pilate and ,the ,death of the ,virgin1 lingering before them1 studying every detail1 realising to the full1 through these splendid impressions1 the height and significance of ,rembrandt's genius4 ,he compared the four prints he had purchased with their originals1 and understood why collectors were eager to pay enormous prices for fine states1 probably printed by the master himself4 ,as soon as he had finished one portfolio1 the watchful attendant carried it away1 and substituted another4 ,it was so easy1 so restful1 and so invigorating to study a master under these conditions1 that he wondered the public did not flock to the ,print ,room as to a first night at a popular theatre4 ,on another day he studied the drawings and landscape etchings--that dark1 spacious design called ,the ,three ,trees1 and a perfect little drawing of ,joseph ,consoling the ,prisoners4 ,the large plates inspired him with reverence and profound admiration for ,rembrandt's genius as an etcher1 but it was the smaller etchings that won his love and held it4 ,he promised himself1 when he came into certain family monies of which there was some prospect1 that instead of buying an automobile1 he would make himself the proud owner of ,the ,three ,trees1 ,the ,prodigal ,son1 ,abraham's ,sacrifice1 and ,tobit ,blind--perhaps one1 perhaps two1 perhaps three1 perhaps all four4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,epochs ,,in ,,rembrandt',s ,,life ,suppose the admiration of our enthusiast for ,rembrandt had been noted in the select suburb where he lived3 suppose his mother was one of those estimable ladies who hold monthly ,dorcas meetings in their drawing-rooms3 suppose that while the ladies were working at useful garments for the poor1 she persuaded her son to discourse on ,rembrandt3 suppose1 because the petition came from his mother that he1 very much against his will1 consented4 ,it was not an easy task1 as he took little or no interest in the life of ,rembrandt2 his interests were entirely with the sthetic appeal of his work4 ,what1 he asked himself1 can one say about the life of a man when that life was wholly one with his art--mingling with it1 ministering to it at every point4 ,a boy1 the fifth child of a miller living at ,leyden1 is born into the world1 takes to art as a duck to water1 becomes one of the greatest painters of the world1 dies in obscurity1 is forgotten1 and long after his death is placed among his peers4 ,what is there to say about such a life8 ,he made the attempt4 ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,an ,,old ,,lady ,,in ,a ,,velvet ,,hood1 ,,her ,,hands ,,folded #afej4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,at the age of fourteen ,rembrandt entered at ,leyden ,university1 but showed little inclination for books4 ,he preferred ,lucas van ,leyden to ,virgil1 and his parents1 accepting the situation1 allowed him to study painting under ,swanenburch1 and later in the studio of ,lastman at ,amsterdam4 ,after a few months with ,lastman he returned to ,leyden1 to practise painting alone and in his own way4 ,so much for his schooling4 ,at the age of twenty-one he produced a picture called ,st4 ,paul in ,prison1 and ,gerard ,dou became his pupil4 ,in #afca he left ,leyden and settled in ,amsterdam4 ,in #afcd he married ,saskia van ,uylenborch1 who bore him three children1 and ,titus was the youngest4 ,some years later he had two daughters by his servant1 ,hendrickje ,stoffels4 ,perhaps he married her4 ,she was a kind1 good soul1 faithful and loyal to her master4 ,his friends do not seem to have disapproved of this irregular union1 but the ,consistory of her church summoned ,hendrickje before them and forbade her to communicate4 ,at the age of fifty ,rembrandt was declared bankrupt4 ,from that date until his death troubles encompassed him2 but he was happy so long as he could paint undisturbed4 ,his son ,titus died when he was sixty-two1 and the following year ,rembrandt died1 and was buried at a cost of thirteen florins4 ,our enthusiast did not find it easy to manipulate these facts1 and he elected to slur over the ,hendrickje episode2 but he was able to interest the ladies of the ,dorcas meeting by showing them some of ,rembrandt's pictures4 ,he collected a series of photographs of the portraits and paintings1 including his favourite pictures1 such as ,the ,jewish ,rabbi in the ,national ,gallery1 ,titus and ,the ,parable of the ,unmerciful ,servant in the ,wallace collection1 ,rembrandt's ,mother and ,the ,singing ,boy at ,vienna2 and he invested sixpence in a little manual recently published1 called ,the ,masterpieces of ,rembrandt1 containing sixty excellent reproductions of his portraits and pictures4 ,he also displayed photographs of the remarkable series in the ,hermitage ,gallery at ,st4 ,petersburg3 ,the ,descent from the ,cross1 with the brilliant light focussed on the body and winding sheet1 and fading away into the darkness of the background2 that radiant portrait of ,saskia painted just before her marriage to ,rembrandt1 known as ,flora with a ,flower-trimmed ,crook1 standing at the opening of a grotto1 with a wreath of flowers upon her head1 and the light falling upon her face and gay attire2 ,the ,holy ,family1 the father working at his daily task in the background1 and the ,virgin1 who has laid down her book1 drawing aside the curtain from the cot to gaze upon the ,child4 ,he explained that ,rembrandt1 in placing this scene in a humble ,dutch cottage1 knew that he could express the ,biblical story better that way than if he had painted an imaginary scene after the manner of the ,italians4 ,this great ,dutch master 7he quoted from ,mr4 ,colvin7 succeeded in making as wonderful pictures out of spiritual abjectness and physical gloom as the ,italians out of spiritual exaltation and shadowless day4 ,illustration3 ,,flora ,,with ,a ,,flower-,,trimmed ,,crook #afcd4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,at this point of his discourse he began to feel more confidence1 and he proceeded to focus his remarks upon four periods in ,rembrandt's life--epochs that lend themselves to separate treatment1 each epoch marked by the production of a masterpiece1 and one remarkable portrait that has a particular and pathetic interest4 ,those four pictures are ,the ,anatomy ,lesson1 painted in #afcb1 when he was twenty-six2 the ,sortie of a ,company of ,amsterdam ,musketeers1 known as ,the ,night ,watch1 painted in #afdb1 when he was thirty-six2 ,the ,syndics of the ,cloth ,hall1 painted in #affb1 when he was fifty-six2 and his own portrait1 painted in #affg1 two years before his death4 ,his ,anatomy ,lesson1 says ,m4 ,michel1 was the glorification of ,science itself2 in his ,sortie of a ,company of ,amsterdam ,musketeers he embodied that civic heroism which had lately compassed ,dutch independence2 and in a group of five cloth merchants seated round a table1 discussing the affairs of their guild1 he summed up1 as it were1 in a few immortal types1 the noble sincerity of ,dutch portraiture4 ,the ,anatomy ,lesson was the picture that gave ,rembrandt his opportunity1 and proclaimed his preeminence among the painters in ,amsterdam4 ,it was the custom in those days for corporations1 civic bodies1 and associations of various kinds1 to commemorate their period of office by commissioning portrait groups which should hand down their worthy faces to posterity4 ,the desire of the less prominent members of the associations thus painted was that each head should be a likeness1 plainly recognisable1--that one burgher should not be treated with more importance than another4 ,this desire for present and posthumous commemoration extended to medical circles4 ,portraits and portrait groups of famous physicians and surgeons were painted and hung in the theatres where they lectured or operated4 ,dr4 ,tulp1 an eminent surgeon of the day1 commissioned ,rembrandt to represent him performing an operation1 proposing to present the picture to the ,surgeons' ,guild in memory of his professorship4 ,the grave1 realistic picture called ,the ,anatomy ,lesson1 now hanging at the ,hague ,museum1 was the result4 ,the corpse lies upon the dissecting table2 before it stands ,dr4 ,tulp1 wearing a broad-brimmed hat2 around him are grouped seven elderly students4 ,some are absorbed by the operation1 others gaze thoughtfully at the professor1 or at the spectator4 ,dr4 ,tulp indicates with his forceps one of the tendons of the subject's left arm1 and appears to be addressing the students1 or practitioners1 for these seven bearded men have long passed the age of studentship4 ,this picture made ,rembrandt's reputation4 ,he was but twenty-six2 the world seemed to be at his feet2 in the two following years he painted forty portraits4 ,it was not easy for our enthusiast to explain to the ladies of the ,dorcas meeting that the dissection of a body was a suitable subject for the brush of a painter4 ,the ,dutchmen of ,rembrandt's day were not so squeamish as we have become since4 ,they had a passion for the literal painting of literal things1 and this picture was destined not for a ,tate ,gallery1 but for the wall of an operating theatre4 ,dr4 ,tulp desired a picture of himself performing an operation1 and ,rembrandt gave it to him1 painted in a way that pleased his contemporaries1 and that has astonished the world ever since4 ,ten years later ,rembrandt painted another ,doelen or ,regent picture which1 under the erroneous title of ,the ,night ,watch1 is to-day the chief attraction of the ,ryks ,museum at ,amsterdam4 ,this time it was not a group of surgeons1 but a company of ,amsterdam musketeers marching out under the leadership of their captain1 ,frans ,banning ,cocq4 ,in all these civic or military ,regent pictures1 each member subscribed a sum towards the artist's fee1 and consequently each individual wished to have his money's worth in the shape of an accurate presentation of his face and form4 ,it is an old quarrel between artist and public4 ,mr4 ,abbey had to face it in his ,coronation picture2 ,mr4 ,bacon had to face it in his ,return of the ,c4,i4,v4's2 perhaps the only folk who solved the problem were the complaisant gentlemen who designed panoramas of cricket matches in the last century1 where each member of the company blandly faces the spectator4 ,much water had flowed under ,burgomaster ,six's bridge since ,rembrandt painted ,the ,anatomy ,lesson4 ,then he was the obedient student4 ,now he was an acknowledged master4 ,he painted ,the ,sortie of the ,company of ,frans ,banning ,cocq as an artist who was profoundly interested in problems of light and shade1 with strong views as to the composition of a picture1 not as a methodical and mediocre painter desirous of carrying out the commission in a way to please his patrons4 ,they wanted a presentment of the face and figure of each member of the company who had subscribed a hundred florins4 ,rembrandt gave them a work of art4 ,no doubt the captain and his lieutenant were well enough pleased1 for they stride forth in the forefront of the picture1 but the rank and file were bitterly hostile4 ,from the painting of ,the ,night ,watch his popularity began to wane4 ,the history of this picture1 after it had been hung in the ,doelen or assembly hall belonging to ,captain ,cocq's company1 was as troublous as the later life of ,rembrandt4 ,years afterwards when1 blackened with smoke and ill-usage1 it was removed from the ,doelen to the ,hotel de ,ville1 the authorities1 finding that it was too large for the space it was destined to occupy1 deliberately cut a piece away from each side4 ,this is proved by a copy of the picture made by ,lundens before the mutilation1 now in the ,national ,gallery4 ,when ,m4 ,hopman undertook the restoration of ,the ,night ,watch he discovered1 when he had removed the surface of dirt1 that the sortie is taking place by daylight1 and that the work contained something that ,rembrandt evidently intended should represent a ray of sunlight4 ,but the popular name of the picture is still ,the ,night ,watch4 ,the ladies of the ,dorcas ,society expressed in eyes and gestures their disapproval of the ,amsterdam vandals who mutilated ,the ,night ,watch4 ,one of them remarked3 ,it happened a long time ago4 ,so gross a barbarity could not be perpetrated now4 ,twenty years later1 at the age of fifty-six1 ,rembrandt1 having known what it was to be homeless and penniless1 painted his masterpiece1 ,the ,syndics of the ,cloth ,hall1 merely five figures grouped round a table1 with a servant1 uncovered1 in attendance4 ,it is an extraordinarily real picture1 the final statement of ,rembrandt's knowledge of painting1 combined with that rare power of seeing things just as they are--the hundred subtleties that the untrained eye never sees1 as well as the accents that all see4 ,it is the perfect painter's vision--a scene grasped as a whole1 character searched out but not insistent1 the most delicate suggestion of equally diffused light knitting the figures together4 ,he made no attempt to be picturesque as in ,the ,night ,watch2 he was content just to paint five men dressed in black1 with flat white collars and broad-brimmed hats1 and a servant4 ,with these simple materials ,rembrandt produced the picture that the world has agreed to regard as his masterpiece4 ,contemporary criticism says nothing about it4 ,the place of honour at the ,ryks ,museum at ,amsterdam is given to ,the ,night ,watch1 but it is ,the ,syndics of the ,cloth ,hall--a simple presentation of five grave men seated at a table--that we remember with wonder and admiration4 ,our enthusiast1 having dwelt upon these three masterpieces1 marking epochs in ,rembrandt's life1 referred again to the magnificent array of portraits scattered in such regal profusion through the thirty years that passed between the painting of ,the ,anatomy ,lesson and ,the ,syndics4 ,then noticing1 while enlarging upon the etchings1 that his mother was casting anxious glances at the clock1 he hurriedly referred to the last portrait that ,rembrandt painted of himself1 two years before his death4 ,he could not describe this portrait1 which is in a private collection in ,berlin1 as he had never seen it1 so he quoted ,m4 ,michel's description3 ,this extraordinary work1 perhaps the last ,rembrandt painted1 is modelled with prodigious vigour and freedom4 ,with superb audacity1 the master shows us once more the familiar features1 on which age and sorrow have worked their will4 ,they are distorted1 disfigured1 almost unrecognisable4 ,but the free spirit is still unbroken4 ,the eyes that meet ours are still keen and piercing2 they have even the old twinkle of good-humoured irony1 and the toothless mouth relaxes in frank laughter4 ,what was the secret of this gaiety8 ,in spite of his poverty1 he had still a corner in which to paint4 ,beside him stand an easel and an antique bust1 perhaps a relic of his former wealth4 ,he holds his maul-stick in his hand1 and pauses for a moment in his work4 ,he is happy because he can give himself up to his art4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,descent ,,from ,,the ,,cross #afcd4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,it was the last of half a hundred portraits of himself1 painted and etched without vanity2 painted because a man's self is such an accommodating model1 always ready and willing2 painted because ,rembrandt loved to experiment with himself before a mirror1 grimacing1 angry1 stern1 as an officer1 with a casque1 with a gorget1 or1 as we see him in the ,national ,gallery1 on one wall with the bloom of youth and health upon his face1 on the other1 dulled1 stained1 and marked by the finger of time4 ,this we can say3 that he was always true to himself4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,great ,,triumvirate ,it is generally acknowledged that the greatest masters of painting that the world has known are ,titian1 ,velasquez1 and ,rembrandt1 and to each of the triumvirate we apply the word genius4 ,among the many definitions of that abused word is one which states that genius consists not in seeing more than other people1 but in seeing differently4 ,we acknowledge genius in a painter when1 over and above masterly technical power1 he presents to us a view of life or of nature which we may never have seen1 but which we are convinced is the vision of deeper eyes than our own1 and is true4 ,the seer has seen it1 and it is only because of the dimness or narrowness or worldliness of our outlook that we do not perceive it also4 ,a great painter writes us a letter1 tells us of the things he has seen or heard or felt1 gives us news of the world wherein he lives4 ,he expresses his personality to us1 and personality in art is a thing incalculable4 ,corot's ,arcadia landscape delights us because it is the distilled essence of the vision1 heart1 and character of the personality called ,corot4 ,personality may be expressed by a ,rembrandt1 abundantly4 ,it may also be expressed by a ,velasquez1 negatively4 ,we must be vigilant1 in judging a painter1 to distinguish between his own personality and the personality of those who interpret him to us4 ,the more we give of ourselves to a painter or an author1 the greater is the return of his appeal and interest4 ,cleave the wood of your brain and you find him brimming with communications1 raise the stone of your imagination and he is revealed4 ,a certain critic1 who had devoted his life to the study of ,reynolds1 while lecturing upon the achievement of that master1 threw upon the screen a certain large subject-picture1 not one of ,reynold's happiest efforts1 but a laboured and unattractive design which1 we know1 gave ,reynolds an infinity of trouble4 ,so scientific1 so interesting was this critic's analysis of the picture1 so absorbing the attributes he read into it1 that many of his audience were persuaded that they were looking upon a ,reynolds masterpiece1 whereas they were but hypnotised by the subtleties of the critic's mind working upon ,reynolds4 ,conversely the criticism of some writers tends towards depreciation because of their predilection for objective as opposed to subjective criticism4 ,the late ,p4,g4 ,hamerton1 writing upon ,rembrandt1 says1 ,the chiaroscuro of ,rembrandt is often false and inconsistent1 and in fact he relied largely on public ignorance4 ,but though arbitrary1 it is always conducive to his purpose4 ,conducive to his purpose6 ,there is much virtue in those four words4 ,rembrandt probably knew as well as anybody that his lighting of a picture was not a facsimile of the lighting of nature1 or rather not the chiaroscuro as seen by the average eye2 but he had an aim1 a vision before him1 and he did not hesitate to interpret that vision in his own way4 ,who dares to say that ,rembrandt was disloyal to nature8 ,our concern is not what we should have done1 but what ,rembrandt did1 seeing with his own eyes4 ,and the questions we should ask ourselves are3--,is the interpretation of the world as seen through his eyes beautiful1 suggestive1 profound1 and stimulating8 ,does the statement of his personality in paint add to our knowledge1 educate our sthetic perceptions1 and extend our horizon by showing us things that our imperfect vision does not see except through him8 ,illustration3 ,a ,,young ,,woman ,,in ,a ,,red ,,chair ,,holding ,a ,,pink ,,in ,,her ,,right ,,hand #afef4 ,the ,hermitage1 ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,comparisons are not only odious1 but foolish4 ,no sensible critic attempts a comparison between ,titian1 ,velasquez1 and ,rembrandt4 ,he accepts them as they are1 and is grateful4 ,but even the most obscure of mortals may have his preferences1 and a curious chapter in the lives of individuals who have concerned themselves with painting would be the bewildering way in which the pendulum of their appreciation and admiration has swung backwards and forwards from ,titian to ,velasquez1 from ,velasquez to ,rembrandt1 and sometimes back to ,titian4 ,it is often a question of mood4 ,there are moods when the regal abundance1 the consummate craftsmanship of ,titian1 the glow and splendour of his canvases1 the range of them from ,the ,man with the ,glove in the ,louvre to the ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 force us to place him on the summit of ,parnassus4 ,we are dazzled by this prince of painters1 dominating ,venice at the height of her prosperity1 inspired by her1 having around him1 day by day1 the glorious pictures that the genius of ,venice had produced4 ,we follow his triumphant career1 see him courted and fted1 recognise his detachment from the sorrow and suffering of the unfortunate and unclassed1 and amid the splendour of his career note his avidity for the loaves and fishes of the world4 ,unlike ,rembrandt1 fortune favoured ,titian to the end4 ,his career was a triumphal progress4 ,we stand in that small room at the ,prado ,museum at ,madrid and gaze upon his canvases1 sumptuous and opulent1 diffusing colour like a sunset1 indifferent to their story or meaning1 happy and content with the flaming feast outspread for our enjoyment4 ,we stand before his ,entombment at the ,louvre1 dumb before its superlative painting1 with hardly a thought for the tragedy that it represents4 ,titian accepts the literary motive1 and the artist in him straight forgets it4 ,we walk from ,the ,entombment to the little chamber where ,rembrandt's ,christ at ,emmaus hangs1 and the heart of ,rembrandt is beating there4 ,to ,titian the glory of the world1 to ,rembrandt all that man has felt and suffered1 parting and sorrow1 and the awakening of joy4 ,we do not compare the one painter with the other2 we say3 ,this is ,titian1 that is ,rembrandt2 each gives us his emotion4 ,foolish indeed it seems in the face of these two pictures1 and a thousand others1 to say that art should be this or that1--that a picture should or should not have a literary or a philosophical motive4 ,painters give us themselves4 ,we amuse ourselves by placing them in schools1 by analysing their achievement1 by scientific explanations of what they did just by instinct1 as lambs gambol--and behind all stands the ,sphinx called ,personality4 ,there are moods when the appeal of ,velasquez is irresistible4 ,grave and reticent1 a craftsman miraculously equipped1 detached1 but not with the ,jovian detachment of ,titian1 this ,spanish gentleman stalks silently across the art stage4 ,hundreds of drawings of ,rembrandt's exhibit evidence of the infinite extent of his experiments after perfection4 ,the drawings of ,velasquez can be counted on the fingers of one hand4 ,he drew in paint upon the canvas4 ,from his portraits and pictures we gather not the faintest idea of what he felt1 what he thought1 what he believed4 ,one thing we know absolutely--that he saw as keenly and as searchingly as any painter who has ever lived4 ,what he saw before him he could paint1 and in the doing of it he was unrivalled4 ,his hand followed and obeyed his eye4 ,when the object was not before him1 he falls short of his superlative standard4 ,the figures of ,philip ,,iv41 of ,olivares1 and of ,prince ,baltazar ,carlos in the three great equestrian portraits are as finely drawn as man could make them4 ,velasquez saw them2 he did not see the prancing horses which they ride1 consequently our eyes dropping from the consummate figures are disappointed at the conventional attitudes of the steeds4 ,velasquez1 like ,titian1 moved from success to success2 both were friends of kings1 both basked in royal favour1 neither had the disadvantage1 or perhaps the great advantage1 like ,rembrandt1 of the education of adversity4 ,velasquez made two journeys into ,italy2 he knew what men had accomplished in painting1 and if he was not largely influenced by ,titian and ,tintoretto1 their work showed him what man had done1 what man could do1 and indicated to him his own dormant powers4 ,rembrandt was sufficient unto himself4 ,there are moods when one is sure that he stands at the head of the painting hierarchy4 ,in spite of his greatness1 we feel that he is very near to our comprehension4 ,what a picture of the old painter towards the end of his life that saying of ,baldinucci presents4 ,we are told that near the close of his career1 absorbed in his art1 indifferent to the world1 when he was painting at his easel he had come to wipe his brushes on the hinder portions of his dress4 ,rembrandt looms out like some amorphous boulder1 stationary1 lichen-stained1 gathering time unto itself4 ,he travelled so little that it can be said he was untravelled4 ,the works of other painters affected him not at all4 ,we are without proof that he was even interested in the work of his contemporaries or predecessors4 ,life was his passion4 ,one model was as good as another4 ,he looked at life1 and life fired his imaginations4 ,he painted himself fifty times2 he painted his friends1 his relations1 and the people he met while prowling about the streets4 ,his pencil was never idle4 ,imagination1 which confuses the judgment of so many1 aided him1 for his imagination was not nourished by vanity1 or the desire to produce an effect1 but flowed from the greatness of his brooding heart4 ,he stood alone during his life1 an absorbed man1 uninfluenced by any school2 he stands alone to-day4 ,the world about him1 and his thoughts and reflections1 were his only influences4 ,he read few books1 and the chief among them was the ,bible4 ,mr4 ,berenson has written an exhaustive and learned work on ,lorenzo ,lotto1 analysing his pictures year by year1 and exhuming the various painters who influenced ,lotto at the different periods of his life4 ,mr4 ,berenson's book extends to nearly three hundred pages4 ,the influences of the painting fraternity upon ,rembrandt would not provide material for the first paragraph of the first page of such a book4 ,his fame is assured4 ,he is one of the great triumvirate4 ,he was greater1 perhaps1 says ,mr4 ,clausen1 than any other painter in human feeling and sympathy1 in dramatic sense and invention2 and his imagination seemed inexhaustible4 ,the ,ryks ,museum at ,amsterdam may be said to have been designed as a shrine for his ,night ,watch4 ,near by it hangs ,the ,syndics of the ,cloth ,company1 excelled1 in this particular class of work1 by no picture in the world2 but it is by the portraits and the etchings that the sweep1 profundity1 and versatility of ,rembrandt's genius is exemplified4 ,truly his imagination was inexhaustible4 ,it is an education to stand before his portraits in the ,national ,gallery4 ,observe the ,old ,lady1 aged #hc1 the massive painting of her face1 and the outline of her figure set so firmly against the background4 ,here is ,realism1 frank and straightforward1 almost defiant in its strength4 ,turn to the portrait of ,a ,jewish ,rabbi4 ,here is ,idealism4 ,you peer and peer1 and from the brown background emerges a brown garment1 relieved by the black cap1 and the black cloak that falls over his left shoulder4 ,luminous black and luminous brown6 ,brown is the side of the face in shadow1 brown is the brow in shadow4 ,all is tributary to the glory of the golden brown on the lighted portion of the face4 ,the portrait composes into a perfect whole4 ,the dim blacks and browns lead up to the golden brown illuminating the old weary head1 that wonderful golden brown--the secret of ,rembrandt4 ,this old ,jew lives through the magic art of ,rembrandt4 ,he crouches in the frame1 wistful and waiting1 the eternal type1 eternally dreaming the ,jews' dream that is still a dream4 ,,the ,,end ,printed by ,r4 ,r4 ,,clark1 ,,limited1 ,edinburgh4 ,,whistler ,,as ,i ,,knew ,,him ,,by ,,mortimer ,,menpes ,,square ,,imperial #h,,vo 7#aa #h-a_/d ,,inches71 ,,bound ,,in ,,cloth1 ,,with ,,top ,,edge ,,gilt1 ,,containing #abe ,,full-,,page ,,facsimile ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,,and ,,tint ,,of ,,whistler',s ,,oil-,,colours1 ,,water-,,colours1 ,,pastels1 ,,and ,,etchings4 7,,the ,,edition ,,de ,,luxe ,,contains ,,an ,,original ,,whistler ,,etching ,,never ,,before ,,published47 ,,ordinary ,,edition1 #djs4 ,,net4 ,,edition ,,de ,,luxe 7limited to #ejj ,copies71 #e ,,guineas ,,net 99 99 99 99 99 ,,some ,,press ,,opinions ,,haldane ,,macfall in ,the ,academy4--,no one who loves the ,art of ,whistler should be without this handsome book2 it contains works of ,art of exquisite beauty2 it contains a delightful picture of the outward ,whistler that the man himself wished to be mistaken for the real thing--half butterfly1 half wasp1 wholly laughing enigma4 ,the ,observer4--,a singularly illuminating and intimate monograph4 ,the ,week's ,survey4--,mr4 ,menpes gives us an extraordinarily vivid account of the technical methods which ,whistler employed4 ,this in itself must make his book a text-book for all time4 ,the ,magazine of ,art4--,it is all wonderfully true to life1 obviously sincere and convincing1 and vastly entertaining4 ,the ,bystander4--,one of the most delightful biographical sketches which has appeared for a long time4 ,to-day4--,a deeply interesting and an extremely entertaining volume4 ,the ,daily ,news4--,a quite miraculous study that1 like ,shallow1 ought to provide the world with laughter for the wearing out of six fashions4 ,and after that the pictures will still remain a permanent joy4 ,a4,m4,b4 in ,the ,king4--,by far the most valuable and interesting book on ,whistler which has been written1 or1 indeed1 is ever likely to be written4 ,t4,p4's ,weekly4--,an honest and clear study of the great artist4 ,a4,c4,r4,c4 in ,the ,outlook4--,it bears the impress of actuality1 and is probably the truest chain of living pictures of ,whistler's personality that any 'follower' could have made4 ,dundee ,advertiser4--,told in a most fascinating manner4 ,the ,world4--,an extremely interesting and valuable historical document4 ,truth4--,at once a superb and an amazing book--superb in the number and excellence of its reproductions of ,whistler's work1 amazing in its characteristic anecdotes of the ,master4 ,the ,connoisseur4--,the illustrations form an invaluable record of ,whistler's art1 and they in themselves make ,mr4 ,menpes's book a desirable possession4 ,the ,studio4--,full of deeply interesting data respecting ,whistler's methods1 of real revelation of his remarkable personality1 and of pathetic instances of the devotion of his followers4 ,the ,globe4--,eminently amusing and very instructive to boot4 ,aberdeen ,free ,press4--,as literature it is vastly entertaining2 as art it is an extraordinarily brilliant and abundant collection representative of the work of a remarkable man1 in himself a 'school4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,non-,illustrated ,edition ,,whistler ,,as ,i ,,knew ,,him ,,by ,,mortimer ,,menpes ,,square ,,demy #hvo ,,bound ,,in ,,cloth ,,price #b_/f ,,net 99 99 99 99 99 ,,published ,,by ,,adam ,,and ,,charles ,,black ,,soho ,,square ,,london ,w4 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author ,,each ,,with ,,full-,,page ,,illustrations ,,in ,,colour ,,price #bjs4 ,,net 99 99 99 99 99 ,,venice ,publishers' ,note4--,this book treats of ,venice not only at one time of the day1 but at all times4 ,there is ,venice at night2 ,venice in sunshine2 ,venice in grey2 it is a colour record of ,venice1 full of actuality4 ,there are all sides of ,venice--old doorways2 the ,riva2 the ,rialto2 ,st4 ,mark's before and after the fall of the ,campanile2 the ,doge's ,palace2 the ,salute at dawn and the ,salute at sunset2 ,market ,places2 ,fishing ,villages1 with their vividly-coloured ,fishing ,boats--rich orange sails splashed with yellows and vermilions2 the ,piazza2 ,churches2 and the ,islands of the ,lagoon4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,durbar ,morning ,post4--,this splendid book will be accepted by all as the best realisation of an epoch-making ceremony that we are ever likely to get4 ,the ,academy4--,unquestionably the best pictorial representation of the ,durbar which has appeared4 ,the ,globe4--,likely to be the most brilliant and lasting record of the historical occasion4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,world',s ,,children ,the ,times4--,of the cleverness1 both of the pictures and letter-press1 there can be no doubt4 ,miss ,menpes's short papers on the children of different lands are full of insight1 human and fresh experience2 and ,mr4 ,menpes's #ajj pictures 444 are above all remarkable for their extraordinary variety of treatment1 both in colour scheme and in the pose and surroundings of the subject4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,world ,,pictures ,the ,scotsman4--,mr4 ,menpes has been a wanderer over the face of the earth armed with brush and pencil1 and he has brought back with him portfolios filled with samples of the colour and sunshine1 and of the life and form1 quaint or beautiful1 of the most famous countries of the ,east and of the ,west1 and his charming book is a kind of album into which he has gathered the cream of an artist's memories and impressions of the many countries he has visited and sketched in4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,japan ,the ,times4--,mr4 ,menpes's pictures are here given in most perfect facsimile1 and they form altogether a series of colour impressions of ,japan which may fairly be called unrivalled4 ,even without the narrative they would show that ,mr4 ,menpes is an enthusiast for ,japan1 her art and her people2 and very few ,european artists have succeeded in giving such complete expression to an admiration in which all share4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,war ,,impressions ,daily ,telegraph4--,one hardly knows which to admire the more--the skill of the artist or the skill with which his studies have been reproduced1 for the colours of the originals are shown with marvellous fidelity1 and the delicate art of the impressionist loses nothing in the process4 ,the book1 therefore1 is a double triumph1 and will therefore be prized by collectors4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,brittany ,publishers' ,note4--,mr4 ,menpes is perhaps exceptionally capable of producing a true and vivid description of ,brittany4 ,he has lived and painted there for many years4 ,every aspect of the country has been faithfully depicted by him2 every mood of ,breton life1 every trait of character4 ,whether it is a pig-market that is portrayed1 or a dignified ,breton surrounded by his household gods of oak and blue china in the atmosphere of his own home--whether it is a fleet of fishing boats hung with cobalt-blue nets1 or group of medival houses in some ancient town--each and every picture bears the impress of actuality4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,published ,,by ,a4 ,c4 ,,black ,,soho ,,square ,,london ,w4 ,,and ,,obtainable ,,from ,,all ,,booksellers ,,at ,,home ,,or ,,abroad ,illustration ,don't ,open ,your ,door 444unless444 you know who rang the bell ,protection that pays ,,an ,,ackerman ,,door ,,interviewer 7,,peephole7 ,,you ,,look ,,through ,a ,,mirror ,,and ,,you ,,see ,,your ,,caller ,,but ,,he ,,cannot ,,see ,,you6 ,,for ,,installation ,,call3 ,,wa4 #g-gjfg #h-aj ,a4,m4 ,,or #f-aj ,p4,m4 ,authorized ,agent ,,walter ,,deutschman #hge ,,west #ahjth ,,street1 ,,new ,,york #cc1 ,n4,y4 ,,retail ,,price #d4ie ,plus #a4ej for installation ,installation ,,takes #e ,,minutes ,through any door1 steel1 wood1 etc4