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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:00:32 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:00:32 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19602-0.txt b/19602-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd70c33 --- /dev/null +++ b/19602-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2863 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. Hurll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rembrandt + A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the + Painter with Introduction and Interpretation + +Author: Estelle M. Hurll + +Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #19602] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMBRANDT *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: REMBRANDT VAN RYN (BY HIMSELF) + _National Gallery, London_] + + + + Masterpieces of Art + + + REMBRANDT + + + A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES + + AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER + + WITH INTRODUCTION AND + + INTERPRETATION + + + + BY + + ESTELLE M. HURLL + + + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + The Riverside Press Cambridge + + 1899 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +The choice of pictures for this collection has been made with the +object of familiarizing the student with works fairly representative +of Rembrandt's art in portraiture and Biblical illustration, landscape +and genre study, in painting and etching. Admirers of the Dutch master +may miss some well-known pictures. For obvious reasons the Lecture in +Anatomy is deemed unsuitable for this place, and the Hundred Guilder +Print contains too many figures to be reproduced here clearly. The +Syndics of the Cloth Guild and the print of Christ Preaching will +compensate for these omissions, and show Rembrandt at his best, both +with brush and burin. + +There are perhaps no paintings in the world more difficult to +reproduce satisfactorily in black and white than those of Rembrandt. +His marvelous effects of chiaroscuro leave in darkness portions of the +composition, which appear in the photograph as unintelligible blurs. +With these difficulties to meet, great pains have been taken to select +for the reproductions of this book the best photographs made direct +from the original paintings. A comparative study of the available +material has resulted in making use of an almost equal number from +Messrs. Hanfstaengl & Co. and Messrs. Braun & Cie. + +In reproducing the etchings the publishers have been most fortunate in +being able to use for the purpose original prints in the Harvey D. +Parker Collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. + +ESTELLE M. HURLL. + +NEW BEDFORD, MASS. + +November, 1899. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES + + +PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT. PAINTED BY HIMSELF. _Frontispiece._ + +FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE. + +INTRODUCTION + + I. ON REMBRANDT'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST + + II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + + III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION + + IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REMBRANDT'S LIFE + + V. SOME OF REMBRANDT'S FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES IN HOLLAND + + VI. FOREIGN CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS + +I. JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +II. ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +III. THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +IV. THE RAT KILLER + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +V. THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +VI. THE GOOD SAMARITAN + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +VII. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +VIII. CHRIST PREACHING + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +IX. CHRIST AT EMMAUS + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +X. PORTRAIT OF SASKIA + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +XI. THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +XII. PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +XIII. PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +XIV. THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +XV. THE THREE TREES + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +XVI. THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT (_See Frontispiece_) + +PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS + + * * * * * + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +I. ON REMBRANDT'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST + + +A general impression prevails with the large picture-loving public +that a special training is necessary to any proper appreciation of +Rembrandt. He is the idol of the connoisseur because of his superb +mastery of technique, his miracles of chiaroscuro, his blending of +colors. Those who do not understand these matters must, it is +supposed, stand quite without the pale of his admirers. Too many +people, accepting this as a dictum, take no pains to make the +acquaintance of the great Dutch master. It may be that they are +repelled at the outset by Rembrandt's indifference to beauty. His +pictures lack altogether those superficial qualities which to some are +the first requisites of a picture. Weary of the familiar commonplaces +of daily life, the popular imagination looks to art for happier scenes +and fairer forms. This taste, so completely gratified by Raphael, is +at first strangely disappointed by Rembrandt. While Raphael peoples +his canvases with beautiful creatures of another realm, Rembrandt +draws his material from the common world about us. In place of the +fair women and charming children with whom Raphael delights us, he +chooses his models from wrinkled old men and beggars. Rembrandt is +nevertheless a poet and a visionary in his own way. "For physical +beauty he substitutes moral expression," says Fromentin. If in the +first glance at his picture we see only a transcript of common life, +a second look discovers something in this common life that we have +never before seen there. We look again, and we see behind the +commonplace exterior the poetry of the inner life. A vision of the +ideal hovers just beyond the real. Thus we gain refreshment, not by +being lifted out of the world, but by a revelation of the beauty which +is in the world. Rembrandt becomes to us henceforth an interpreter of +the secrets of humanity. As Raphael has been surnamed "the divine," +for the godlike beauty of his creations, so Rembrandt is "the human," +for his sympathetic insight into the lives of his fellow men. + +Even for those who are slow to catch the higher meaning of Rembrandt's +work, there is still much to entertain and interest in his rare +story-telling power--a gift which should in some measure compensate +for his lack of superficial beauty. His story themes are almost +exclusively Biblical, and his style is not less simple and direct than +the narrative itself. Every detail counts for something in the +development of the dramatic action. Probably no other artist has +understood so well the pictorial qualities of patriarchal history. +That singular union of poetry and prose, of mysticism and practical +common sense, so striking in the Hebrew character, appealed powerfully +to Rembrandt's imagination. It was peculiarly well represented in the +scenes of angelic visitation. Jacob wrestling with the Angel affords a +fine contrast between the strenuous realities of life and the pure +white ideal rising majestically beyond. The homely group of Tobit's +family is glorified by the light of the radiant angel soaring into +heaven from the midst of them. + +Rembrandt's New Testament scenes are equally well adapted to emphasize +the eternal immanence of the supernatural in the natural. The +Presentation in the Temple is invested with solemn significance; the +simple Supper at Emmaus is raised into a sacrament by the transfigured +countenance of the Christ. For all these contrasts between the actual +and the ideal, Rembrandt had a perfect vehicle of artistic expression +in chiaroscuro. In the mastery of the art of light and shade he is +supreme. His entire artistic career was devoted to this great problem, +and we can trace his success through all the great pictures from the +Presentation to the Syndics. + +Rembrandt apparently cared very little for the nude, for the delicate +curves of the body and the exquisite colors of flesh. Yet to +overbalance this disregard of beautiful form was his strong +predilection for finery. None ever loved better the play of light upon +jewels and satin and armor, the rich effectiveness of Oriental stuffs +and ecclesiastical vestments. Unable to gratify this taste in the +portraits which he painted to order, he took every opportunity to +paint both himself and his wife, Saskia, in costume. Wherever the +subject admitted, he introduced what he could of rich detail. In the +picture of Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph, Asenath, as the wife of +an Egyptian official, is appropriately adorned with jewels and finery. +In the Sortie of the Civic Guard, Captain Cocq is resplendent in his +military regalia. + +With all this fondness for pretty things, Rembrandt never allowed his +fancy to carry him beyond the limits of fitness in sacred art. The +Venetian masters had represented the most solemn scenes of the New +Testament with a pomp and magnificence entirely at variance with their +meaning. Rembrandt understood better the real significance of +Christianity, and made no such mistake. His Supper at Emmaus is the +simple evening meal of three peasant pilgrims precisely as it is +represented in the Gospel. His Christ Preaching includes a motley +company of humble folk, such as the great Teacher loved to gather +about him. + +It was perhaps the obverse side of his fondness for finery, that Rembrandt +had a strong leaning towards the picturesqueness of rags. A very +interesting class of his etchings is devoted to genre studies and beggars. +Here his disregard of the beautiful in the passion for expression reached +an extreme. His subjects are often grotesque--sometimes repulsive--but +always intensely human. Reading human character with rare sympathy, he was +profoundly touched by the poetry and the pathos of these miserable lives. +Through all these studies runs a quaint vein of humor, relieving the +pathos of the situations. The picturesque costume of the old Rat Killer +tickles the sense of humor, and conveys somehow a delightful suggestion of +his humbuggery which offsets the touching squalor of the grotesque little +apprentice. And none but a humorist could have created the swaggering +hostler's boy holding the Good Samaritan's horse. + +As a revealer of character, Rembrandt reaches the climax of his power +in his portraits. From this class of his pictures alone one can +repeople Holland with the spirits of the seventeenth century. All +classes and conditions and all ages came within the range of his magic +brush and burin. The fresh girlhood of Saskia, the sturdy manhood of +the Syndics, and the storied old age of his favorite old woman model +show the scope of his power, and in Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph +he shows the whole range in a single composition. He is manifestly at +his best when his sitter has pronounced features and wrinkled skin, a +face full of character, which he understood so well how to depict. +Obstacles stimulated him to his highest endeavor. Given the prosaic +and hackneyed motif of the Syndics' composition, he rose to the +highest point of artistic expression in a portrait group, in which a +grand simplicity of technical style is united with a profound and +intimate knowledge of human nature. + + +II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + +The history of modern Rembrandt bibliography properly begins with the +famous work by C. Vosmaer, "Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, sa Vie et ses +Œuvres." Vosmaer profited by the researches of Kolloff and Burger +to bring out a book which opened a new era in the appreciation of the +great Dutch master. It was first issued in 1868, and was republished +in 1877 in an enlarged edition. This book was practically alone in the +field until the recent work of Emile Michel appeared. In the English +translation (by Florence Simmonds) edited by Walter Armstrong, +Michel's "Rembrandt" is at the present moment our standard authority +on the subject. It is in two large illustrated volumes full of +historical information and criticism and containing a complete +classified list of Rembrandt's works--paintings, drawings, and +etchings. + +The "Complete Work of Rembrandt," by Wilhelm Bode, is now issuing from +the press (1899), and will consist of eight volumes containing +reproductions of all the master's pictures, with historical and +descriptive text. It is to be hoped that this mammoth and costly work +will be put into many large reference libraries, where students may +consult it to see Rembrandt's work in its entirety. + +The series of small German monographs edited by H. Knackfuss and now +translated into English has one number devoted to Rembrandt, +containing nearly one hundred and sixty reproductions from his works, +with descriptive text. Kugler's "Handbook of the German, Flemish, and +Dutch Schools," revised by J. A. Crowe, includes a brief account of +Rembrandt's life and work, which may be taken as valuable and +trustworthy. For a critical estimate of the character of Rembrandt's +art, its strength and weaknesses, and its peculiarities, nothing can +be more interesting than what Eugene Fromentin, French painter and +critic, has written in his "Old Masters of Belgium and Holland." + +Rembrandt's etchings have been the exclusive subject of many books. +There are voluminous descriptive catalogues by Bartsch ("Le Peintre +Graveur") Claussin, Wilson, Charles Blanc, Middleton, and Dutuit. A +short monograph on "The Etchings of Rembrandt," by Philip Gilbert +Hamerton (London, 1896), reviews the most famous prints in a very +pleasant way. + +There are valuable prints from the original plates of Rembrandt in the +Harvey D. Parker collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in +the Gray collection of the Fogg Museum at Cambridge, Massachusetts. +Those who are not fortunate enough to have access to original prints +will derive much satisfaction from the complete set of reproductions +published in St. Petersburg (1890) with catalogue by Rovinski, and +from the excellent reproductions of Amand Durand, Paris. + +To come in touch with the spirit of the times and of the country of +Rembrandt, the reader is referred to Motley's "Rise of the Dutch +Republic," condensed and continued by W. E. Griffis. + + +III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION + +_Portrait Frontispiece_. National Gallery, London. Signed and dated +1640. + +1. _Jacob Wrestling with the Angel_. Berlin Gallery. Signed and dated +1659. Figures life size. Size: 4 ft. 5-1/16 in. by 3 ft. 9-5/8 in. + +2. _Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph_. Cassel Gallery. Signed and +dated 1656. Figures life size. Size: 5 ft. 8-9/16 in. by 6 ft. 6-3/4 +in. + +3. _The Angel Raphael Leaving the Family of Tobit_. Louvre, Paris. +Signed and dated 1637. Size: 2 ft. 2-13/16 in. by 1 ft. 8-1/2 in. + +4. _The Rat Killer_. Etching. Signed and dated 1632. Size: 5-1/2 in. +by 4-9/16 in. + +5. _The Philosopher in Meditation_. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated +1633. Size: 11-7/16 in. by 13 in. + +6. _The Good Samaritan_. Etching. Signed and dated 1633. Size: 10-1/5 +in. by 8-3/5 in. + +7. _The Presentation in the Temple_. At the Hague. Signed and dated +1631. Size: 2 ft. 4-11/16 in. by 1 ft. 6-7/8 in. + +8. _Christ Preaching_. Etching. Date assigned by Michel, about 1652. +Size: 6-1/5 in. by 8-1/5 in. + +9. _Christ at Emmaus_. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated 1648. Size: 2 +ft. 2-13/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-5/8 in. + +10. _Portrait of Saskia_. Cassel Gallery. Painted about 1632-1634. +Life size. Size: 3 ft. 2-11/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-3/5 in. + +11. _Sortie of the Civic Guard_. Ryks Museum (Trippenhuis), Amsterdam. +Signed and dated 1642. Life size figures. Size: 11 ft. 9-3/8 in. by 14 +ft. 3-5/16 in. + +12. _Portrait of Jan Six_. Etching. Signed and dated 1647. Size: about +9-3/8 in. by 7-3/8 in. + +13. _Portrait of an Old Woman_. Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg. +Signed and dated 1654. Size: 3 ft. 6-7/8 in. by 2 ft. 9 in. + +14. _The Syndics of the Cloth Guild_. Ryks Museum (Trippenhuis), +Amsterdam. Signed and dated 1661. Life size figures. Size: 6 ft. 7/8 +in. by 8 ft. 11-15/16 in. + +15. _The Three Trees_. Etching, 1643. Size: 8-2/5 in. by 11 in. + + +IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REMBRANDT'S LIFE + +1606.[1] Rembrandt born in Leyden. + +1621. Rembrandt apprenticed to the painter, Jacob van Swanenburch. + +1624. Rembrandt studied six months with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. + +1627. Rembrandt's earliest known works, St. Paul in Prison, (Stuttgart +Museum); The Money Changers (Berlin Gallery). + +1631. Rembrandt removed to Amsterdam. + +1631. The Presentation painted. + +1632. The Anatomy Lecture painted. + +1633. The portrait of the Shipbuilder and his Wife painted. + +1634. Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenborch, June 22, in Bildt. + +1635. Rembrandt's son Rombertus baptized December 15. (Died in +infancy.) + +1637. Angel Raphael Leaving Family of Tobit painted. + +1638. Rembrandt's daughter Cornelia born. (Died in early childhood.) + +1639. Rembrandt bought a house in the Joden Breestraat. + +1640. Rembrandt's second daughter born and died. + +1640. Rembrandt's mother died. + +1640. The Carpenter's Household painted. + +1641. Manoah's Prayer painted. + +1641. Rembrandt's son Titus baptized. + +1642. Sortie of the Civic Guard (The Night Watch) painted for the hall +of the Amsterdam Musketeers. + +[Footnote 1: Authorities are not entirely unanimous as to the date of +Rembrandt's birth.] + +1642. Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, died. + +1648. Christ at Emmaus painted. + +1649. The Hundred Guilder print etched. + +1651. Christ Appearing to Magdalen painted. + +1652. Christ Preaching etched. + +1656. Rembrandt's bankruptcy. + +1656. Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph painted. + +1661. Portrait of the Syndics painted for the Guild of Drapers, +Amsterdam. + +1668. Rembrandt's son Titus died. + +1669. Rembrandt died. + + +V. SOME OF REMBRANDT'S FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES IN HOLLAND + +Frederick Henry of Orange, stadtholder, 1625. Princess Amalia of +Solms, wife of Frederick Henry, built the Huis ten Bosch (House in the +Woods) at the Hague, 1647. + +William II of Orange, stadtholder, 1647. In 1650 the stadt-holderate +was suppressed, and John de Witt became in 1653 chief executive of the +republic for twenty years. Murdered in 1672. + +John of Barneveld, Grand Pensioner, "the greatest statesman in all the +history of the Netherlands" (Griffis). Executed May 24, 1619. + +Michael de Ruyter, "the Dutch Nelson," died 1676. + +Marten Harpertzoon von Tromp, admiral. Born 1597; died 1691. (He +defeated the English fleet under Blake.) + +Cornelius Evertsen, admiral. + +Floriszoon, admiral. + +Witte de With, admiral. + +Hendrik Hudson, navigator and discoverer; first voyage, 1607, last +voyage, 1610. + +Captain Zeachen, discoverer. + +Hugo Grotius, father of international law, 1583-1645. + +Jan Six, burgomaster, bibliophile, art connoisseur, and dramatist, +1618-1700. + +Spinoza, philosopher, 1622-1677. + +Joost van den Vondel, poet and dramatist, 1587-1679. + +Jacob Cats, Grand Pensionary and poet, 1577-1660. + +Constantine Huyghens, poet. + +Gysbart Voet (Latin, Voetius) 1588-1678, professor of theology at +Utrecht. + +Cornelis Jansen, born 1585. Professor of scripture interpretation at +Louvain. + +Johannes Koch (Latin, Coccejus), 1603-1669, professor of theology at +Leyden and, "after Erasmus, the father of modern Biblical criticism." + +J. van Kampen, architect, built the Het Palais (Royal Palace) in +Amsterdam, 1648. + +Jansz Vinckenbrink, sculptor. + +Hendrik de Keyser, sculptor. + +Crabeth brothers, designers of stained glass. + +Painters:-- + +Franz Hals, 1584-1666. + +Gerard Honthorst, 1590-1656. + +Albert Cuyp, 1605-1691. + +Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656. + +Jacob Ruysdael, 1625-1682. + +Paul Potter, 1625-1654. + +Jan Lievens, born 1607; died after 1672. + +Salomon Koning, 1609-1668. + +Gerard Terburg, 1608-1681. + +Nicolas Berghem, 1620-1683. + +Jan Steen, 1626-1679. + +Adrian van Ostade, 1610-1685. + +Rembrandt's pupils:-- + +Ferdinand Bol, 1616-1680. + +Govert Flinck, 1615-1660. + +Van den Eeckhont, 1620-1674. + +Gerard Don, 1613-1680. + +Nicolas Maes, 1632-1693. + +Juriaen Ovens, 1623. + +Hendrick Heerschop, born 1620, entered Rembrandt's studio, 1644. + +Carl Fabritius, 1624-1654. + +Samuel van Hoogstraaten, born 1627, with Rembrandt, 1640-1650. + +Aert de Gelder, 1645-1727. + +Less important names: Jan van Glabbeck, Jacobus Levecq, Heyman +Dullaert, Johan Hendricksen, Adriaen Verdael, Cornelis Drost. + + +VI. FOREIGN CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS + +Flemish:-- + +Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640. + +Anthony Van Dyck, 1599-1641. + +Jacob Jordaens, 1594-1678. + +Franz Snyders, 1574-1657. + +Gaspard de Craeyer, 1582-1669. + +David Teniers, 1610-1690. + +Spanish:-- + +Velasquez, 1599-1660. + +Pacheco, 1571-1654. + +Cano, 1601-1676. + +Herrera, 1576-1656. + +Zurbaran, 1598-1662. + +Murillo, 1618-1682. + +French:-- + +Simon Vouet, 1582-1641. + +Charles Le Brun, 1619-1690. + +Eustache Le Sueur, 1617-1655. + +Italian:-- + +Carlo Dolci, 1616-1686. + +Guido Reni, 1575-1642. + +Domenichino, 1581-1641. + +Francesco Albani, 1578-1660. + +Guercino, 1591-1666. + +Sassoferrato, 1605-1685. + + + + +I + +JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL + + +The history of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob reads like a romance. +He was the younger of the two sons of Isaac, and was at a great +disadvantage on this account. Among his people the eldest son always +became the family heir and also received the choicest blessing from +the father, a privilege coveted as much as wealth. In this case +therefore the privileged son was Jacob's brother Esau. Jacob resented +keenly the inequality of his lot; and his mother sympathized with him, +as he was her favorite. A feeling of enmity grew up between the +brothers, and in the end Jacob did Esau a great wrong. + +One day Esau came in from hunting, nearly starved, and finding his +younger brother cooking some lentils, begged a portion of it for +himself. Jacob seized the chance to make a sharp bargain. He offered +his brother the food--which is called in the quaint Bible language a +"mess of pottage"--making him promise in return that he would let +their father give his blessing to the younger instead of the older +son. Esau was a careless fellow, too hungry to think what he was +saying, and so readily yielded. + +But though Esau might sell his birthright in this fashion, the father +would not have been willing to give the blessing to the younger son, +had it not been for a trick planned by the mother. The old man was +nearly blind, and knew his sons apart by the touch of their skin, as +Esau had a rough, hairy skin and Jacob a smooth one. The mother put +skins of kids upon Jacob's hands and neck and bade him go to his +father pretending to be Esau, and seek his blessing. The trick was +successful, and when a little later Esau himself came to his father on +the same errand, he found that he had been superseded. Naturally he +was very angry, and vowed vengeance on his brother. Jacob, fearing for +his life, fled into a place called Padanaram. + +In this place he became a prosperous cattle farmer and grew very rich. +He married there also and had a large family of children. After +fourteen years he bethought himself of his brother Esau and the great +wrong he had done him. He resolved to remove his family to his old +home, and to be reconciled with his brother. Hardly daring to expect +to be favorably received, he sent in advance a large number of cattle +in three droves as a gift to Esau. Then he awaited over night some +news or message from his brother. In the night a strange adventure +befell him. This is the way the story is told in the book of +Genesis.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Genesis, chapter xxxii. verses 24-31.] + +[Illustration: JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL +_Berlin Gallery_] + +"There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when +he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of +his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he +wrestled with him. And he said, 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' And +he said, 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,' And he said +unto him, 'What is thy name?' And he said, 'Jacob,' And he said, 'Thy +name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast +thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.'... And he +blessed him there. + +"And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God +face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel, +the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh;" that is, he +walked halt, or lame. + +The crisis in Jacob's life was passed, for hardly had he set forth on +this morning when he saw his brother whom he had wronged advancing +with four hundred men to meet him. "And Esau ran to meet him, and +embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him: and they wept." + +So were the brothers reconciled. + +The picture represents Jacob wrestling with his mysterious adversary. +We have seen from his history how determined he was to have his own +way, and how he wrested worldly prosperity even from misfortunes. Now +he is equally determined in this higher and more spiritual conflict. +It is a very real struggle, and Jacob has prevailed only by putting +forth his utmost energy. It is the moment when the grand angel, +pressing one knee into the hollow of Jacob's left thigh and laying +his hand on his right side, looks into his face and grants the +blessing demanded as a condition for release. Strong and tender is his +gaze, and the gift he bestows is a new name, in token of the new +character of brotherly love of which this victory is the beginning. + +The story of St. Michael and the Dragon, which Raphael has painted, +stands for the everlasting conflict between good and evil in the +world. There is a like meaning in the story of Jacob's wrestling with +the angel. The struggle is in the human heart between selfish impulses +and higher ideals. The day when one can hold on to the good angel long +enough to win a blessing, is the day which begins a new chapter in a +man's life. + + + + +II + +ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH + + +When Jacob wrestled with the angel he received a new name, Israel, or +a prince, a champion of God. + +Israel became the founder of the great Israelite nation, and from his +twelve sons grew up the twelve tribes of Israel, among whom was +distributed the country now called Palestine. Among these sons the +father's favorite was Joseph, who was next to the youngest. This +favoritism aroused the anger and jealousy of the older brothers, and +they plotted to get rid of him. One day when they were all out with +some flocks in a field quite distant from their home, they thought +they were rid forever of the hated Joseph by selling him to a company +of men who were journeying to Egypt. Then they dipped the lad's coat +in goat's blood and carried it to Israel, who, supposing his son to +have been devoured by a wild beast, mourned him as dead. + +When Joseph had grown to manhood in Egypt, a singular chain of +circumstances brought the brothers together again. There was a sore +famine, and Egypt was the headquarters for the sale of corn. Joseph +had shown himself so able and trustworthy that he was given charge of +selling and distributing the stores of food. So when Israel's older +sons came from their home to Egypt to buy corn they had to apply to +Joseph, whom they little suspected of being the brother they had so +cruelly wronged. There is a pretty story, too long to repeat here, of +how Joseph disclosed himself to his astonished brethren, and forgave +them their cruelty, how he sent for his father to come to Egypt to +live near him, how there was a joyful reunion, and how "they all lived +happily ever after." + +When the time drew near for Israel to die, he desired to bestow his +last blessing on his sons. And first of all his beloved son Joseph +brought him his own two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh. + +Now according to the traditions of the patriarchs, it was the eldest +son who should receive the choicest blessing from his father. Israel, +however, had found among his own sons that it was a younger one, +Joseph, who had proved himself the most worthy of love. This may have +shaken his faith in the wisdom of the old custom. Perhaps, too, he +remembered how his own boyhood had been made unhappy because he was +the younger son, and how he had on that account been tempted to +deceit. + +Whatever the reason, he surprised Joseph at the last moment by showing +a preference for the younger of the two grandsons, Ephraim, expressing +this preference by laying the right hand, instead of the left, on his +head. The blessing was spoken in these solemn words: "God, before whom +my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my +life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, +bless the lads." + +[Illustration: ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH +_Cassel Gallery_] + +The narrative relates[3] that "When Joseph saw that his father laid +his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he +held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto +Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, 'Not so, my father: +for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.' And his +father refused, and said, 'I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall +become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger +brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a +multitude of nations.' And he blessed them that day, saying, 'In thee +shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim, and as +Manasseh;' and he set Ephraim before Manasseh." + +[Footnote 3: Genesis, chapter xlviii. verses 17-20.] + +As we compare the picture with the story, it is easy to identify the +figures. We are naturally interested in Joseph as the hero of so many +romantic adventures. As a high Egyptian official, he makes a dignified +appearance and wears a rich turban. His face is gentle and amiable, as +we should expect of a loving son and forgiving brother. + +In the old man we see the same Jacob who wrestled by night with the +Angel and was redeemed from his life of selfishness. The same strong +face is here, softened by sorrow and made tender by love. The years +have cut deep lines of character in the forehead, and the flowing +beard has become snowy white. + +The dying patriarch has "strengthened himself," to sit up on the bed +for his last duty, and his son Joseph supports him. The children kneel +together by the bedside, the little Ephraim bending his fair head +humbly to receive his grandfather's right hand, Manasseh looking up +alertly, almost resentfully, as he sees that hand passing over his own +head to his brother's. Joseph's wife Asenath, the children's mother, +stands beyond, looking on musingly. We see that it is a moment of very +solemn interest to all concerned. Though the patriarch's eyes are dim +and his hand trembles, his old determined spirit makes itself +manifest. Joseph is in perplexity between his filial respect and his +solicitude for his first-born. He puts his fingers gently under his +father's wrist, trying to lift the hand to the other head. The mother +seems to smile as if well content. Perhaps she shares the +grandfather's preference for little Ephraim. + +The picture is a study in the three ages of man, childhood, manhood, +and old age, brought together by the most tender and sacred ties of +human life, in the circle of the family. + + + + +III + +THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT + + +The story of Tobit is found in what is called the Apocrypha, that is, +a collection of books written very much in the manner of the Bible, +and formerly bound in Bibles between the Old and the New Testament. + +The story goes that when Enemessar, King of Assyria, conquered the +people of Israel, he led away many of them captive into Assyria, among +them the family of Tobit, his wife Anna, and their son Tobias. They +settled in Nineveh, and Tobit, being an honest man, was made purveyor +to the king. That is, it was his business to provide food for the +king's household. + +In this office he was able to lay up a good deal of money, which he +placed for safe keeping in the hands of Gabael, an Israelite who lived +at Rages in Media. Tobit was a generous man, and he did many kind +deeds for his less fortunate fellow exiles; he delighted in feeding +the hungry and clothing the naked. + +When Sennacherib was king of Assyria, many Jews were slain and left +lying in the street, and Tobit, finding their neglected bodies, buried +them secretly. One night, after some such deed of mercy, a sad +affliction befell him. White films came over his eyes, causing total +blindness. In his distress he prayed that he might die, and began to +make preparations for death. He called his son Tobias to him and gave +him much good advice as to his manner of life, and then desired him to +go to Rages to obtain the money left there with Gabael. But Tobias +must first seek a guide for the journey. "Therefore," says the story, +"when he went to seek a man, he found Raphael that was an angel. But +he knew not; and he said unto him, 'Canst thou go with me to Rages? +and knowest thou those places well?' To whom the angel said, 'I will +go with thee, and I know the way well: for I have lodged with our +brother Gabael,'" The angel gave himself the name Azarias. "So they +went forth both, and the young man's dog with them." + +"As they went on their journey, they came in the evening to the river +Tigris, and they lodged there. And when the young man went down to +wash himself, a fish leaped out of the river, and would have devoured +him. Then the angel said unto him, 'Take the fish,' And the young man +laid hold of the fish, and drew it to land. To whom the angel said, +'Open the fish and take the gall, and put it up safely.' So the young +man did as the angel commanded him, and when they had roasted the +fish, they did eat it: then they both went on their way, till they +drew near to Ecbatane. Then the young man said to the angel, 'Brother +Azarias, to what use is the gall of the fish?' And he said unto him, +'It is good to anoint a man that hath whiteness in his eyes, and he +shall be healed.'" + +[Illustration: THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +After this curious incident there were no further adventures till they +came to Ecbatane. Here they lodged with Raguel, a kinsman of Tobit, +and when Tobias saw Sara, the daughter, he loved her and determined to +make her his wife. He therefore tarried fourteen days at Ecbatane, +sending Azarias on to Rages for the money. This delay lengthened the +time allotted for the journey, but at last the company drew near to +Nineveh,--Azarias or Raphael, and Tobias, with the bride, the +treasure, and the precious fishgall. Raphael then gave Tobias +directions to use the gall for his father's eyes. Their arrival was +the cause of great excitement. "Anna ran forth, and fell upon the neck +of her son. Tobit also went forth toward the door, and stumbled: but +his son ran unto him, and took hold of his father: and he strake of +the gall on his father's eyes, saying, 'Be of good hope, my father.' +And when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them; and the whiteness +pilled away from the corners of his eyes: and when he saw his son, he +fell upon his neck." + +Now Tobit and Tobias were full of gratitude to Azarias for all that he +had done for them, and, consulting together as to how they could +reward him, decided to give him half the treasure. So the old man +called the angel, and said, "Take half of all that ye have brought, +and go away in safety." Then Raphael took them both apart, and said +unto them, "Bless God, praise him, and magnify him, and praise him +for the things which he hath done unto you in the sight of all that +live." + +With this solemn introduction the angel goes on to tell Tobit that he +had been with him when he had buried his dead countrymen, and that his +good deeds were not hid from him, and that his prayers were +remembered. He concludes by showing who he really is. + +"I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers +of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy +One." + +"Then they were both troubled, and fell upon their faces: for they +feared God. But he said unto them, 'Fear not, for it shall go well +with you; praise God therefore. For not of any favor of mine, but by +the will of our God I came; wherefore praise him for ever. All these +days I did appear unto you; but I did neither eat nor drink, but ye +did see a vision. Now therefore give God thanks: for I go up to him +that sent me.'" "And when they arose, they saw him no more." + +The picture shows us the moment when the angel suddenly rises from the +midst of the little company and strikes out on his flight through the +air like a strong swimmer. Tobit and Tobias fall on their knees +without, while Anna and the bride Sara stand in the open door with the +frightened little dog cowering beside them. The older people are +overcome with wonder and awe, but Tobias and Sara, more bold, follow +the radiant vision with rapturous gaze. + + + + +IV + +THE RAT KILLER + + +The pictures we have examined thus far in this collection have been +reproductions from Rembrandt's paintings. You will see at once that +the picture of the Rat Killer is of another kind. The figures and +objects are indicated by lines instead of by masses of color. You +would call it a drawing, and it is in fact a drawing of one kind, but +properly speaking, an etching. An etching is a drawing made on copper +by means of a needle. The etcher first covers the surface of the metal +with a layer of some waxy substance and draws his picture through this +coating, or "etching ground," as it is called. Next he immerses the +copper plate in an acid bath which "bites," or grooves, the metal +along the lines he has drawn without affecting the parts protected by +the etching ground. + +The plate thus has a picture cut into its surface, and impressions of +this picture may be taken by filling the lines with ink and pressing +wet paper to the surface of the plate. You will notice that the +difference between the work of an engraver and that of an etcher is +that the former cuts the lines in his plate with engraving tools, +while the latter only draws his picture on the plate and the acid cuts +the lines. The word etching is derived from the Dutch _etzen_, and +the most famous etchers in the world have been among Dutch and German +artists. + +Rembrandt is easily first of these, and we should have but a limited +idea of his work if we did not examine some of his pictures of this +kind. Impressions made directly from the original plates, over two +centuries ago, are, of course, very rare and valuable, and are +carefully preserved in the great libraries and museums of the world. +There is a collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where this +etching of the Rat Killer may be seen. + +The Rat Killer is one of many subjects from the scenes of common life +which surrounded the artist. In smaller towns and villages, then as +well as now, there were no large shops where goods were to be bought. +Instead, all sorts of peddlers and traveling mechanics went from house +to house--the knife grinder, the ragman, the fiddler, and many others. +This picture of the Rat Killer suggests a very odd occupation. The +pest of rats is, of course, much greater in old than in new countries. +In Europe, and perhaps particularly in the northern countries of +Holland and Germany, the old towns and villages have long been +infested with these troublesome creatures. + +[Illustration: THE RAT KILLER +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +There are some curious legends about them. One relates how a certain +Bishop Hatto, as a judgment for his sins, was attacked by an army of +rats which swam across the Rhine and invaded him in his island tower, +where they made short work of their victim.[4] Another tells how a +town called Hamelin was overrun with rats until a magic piper appeared +who so charmed them with his enchanted music that they gathered about +him and followed his leading till they came to the river and were +drowned.[5] + +[Footnote 4: See Southey's poem, Bishop Hatto.] + +[Footnote 5: See Browning's poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin.] + +The old Rat Killer in the picture looks suspiciously like a magician. +It seems as if he must have bewitched the rats which crawl friskily +about him, one perching on his shoulders. He reminds one of some ogre +out of a fairy tale, with his strange tall cap, his kilted coat, and +baggy trousers, the money pouch at his belt, the fur mantle flung over +one shoulder, and the fierce-looking sword dangling at his side. But +there is no magic in his way of killing rats. He has some rat poison +to sell which his apprentice, a miserable little creature, carries in +a large box. + +The picture gives us an idea of an old Dutch village street. The +cottages are built very low, with steep overhanging roofs. The walls +are of thick masonry, for these were days when in small villages and +outlying districts "every man's house was his castle," that is, every +man's house was intended, first of all, as a place of defense against +outlawry. + +The entrance doors were made in two sections, an upper and a lower +part, or wing, each swinging on its own hinges. Whenever a knock came, +the householder could open the upper wing and address the caller as +through a window, first learning who he was and what his errand, +before opening the lower part to admit him. Thus an unwelcome intruder +could not press his way into the house by the door's being opened at +his knock, and the family need not be taken unawares. In many of our +modern houses we see doors made after the same plan, and known as +"Dutch doors." + +The cautious old man in the picture has no intention of being imposed +upon by wandering fakirs. He has opened only the upper door and leans +on the lower wing, as on a gate, while he listens to the Rat Killer's +story. The latter must have a marvellous tale to tell of the effects +of the poison, from the collection of dead rats which he carries as +trophies in the basket fastened to the long pole in his hand. But the +householder impatiently pushes his hand back, and turns away as if +with disgust. The apprentice, grotesque little rat himself, looks up +rather awestruck at this grand, turbaned figure above him. + + + + +V + +THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION + + +Ever since the beginning of human history there have been people who +puzzled their brains about the reasons of things. Why things are as +they are, whence we came, and whither we are going are some of the +perplexing questions they have tried to answer. Some men have given +all their lives to the study of these problems as a single occupation +or profession. Among the ancient Greeks, who were a very intellectual +nation, such men were quite numerous and were held in great esteem as +teachers. They were called philosophers, that is, lovers of wisdom, +and this word has been passed down to our own times in various modern +languages. + +In the passing of the centuries men found more and more subjects to +think about. Some studied the movements of the stars and tried to +discover if they had any influence in human affairs. These men were +called astrologers, and they drew plans, known as horoscopes, mapping +out the future destiny of persons as revealed by the position of the +constellations. There were other men who examined the various +substances of which the earth is composed, putting them together to +make new things. These were alchemists, and their great ambition was +to find some preparation which would change baser metals into gold. +This hoped-for preparation was spoken of as the "philosopher's stone." + +Now modern learning has changed these vague experiments into exact +science; astronomy has replaced astrology, and chemistry has taken the +place of alchemy. Nevertheless these changes were brought about only +very gradually, and in the 17th century, when Rembrandt lived and +painted this picture, a great stir was made by the new ideas of +astronomy taught by Galileo in Italy, and the new discoveries in +chemistry made by Van Helmont in Belgium. Many philosophers still held +to the old beliefs of astrology and alchemy. + +It is not likely that Rembrandt had any one philosopher in mind as the +subject of his picture. That his philosopher is something of a +scholar, we judge from the table at which he sits, littered with +writing materials. Yet he seems to care less for reading than for +thinking, as he sits with hands clasped in his lap and his head sunk +upon his breast. He wears a loose, flowing garment like a +dressing-gown, and his bald head is protected by a small skull cap. +His is an ideal place for a philosopher's musings. The walls are so +thick that they shut out all the confusing noise of the world. A +single window lets in light enough to read by through its many tiny +panes. It is a bare little room, to be sure, with its ungarnished +walls and stone-paved floor, but if a philosopher has the ordinary +needs of life supplied he wants no luxuries. He asks for nothing +more than quiet and uninterrupted leisure in which to pursue his +meditations. + +[Illustration: THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +Our philosopher is well taken care of; for while his thoughts are on +higher things and eternal truths, an old woman is busy at the fire in +the corner. Evidently she looks after the material and temporal things +of life. She kneels on the hearth and hangs a kettle over the cheerful +blaze. The firelight glows on her face and gleams here and there on +the brasses hanging in the chimney-piece above. Here is promise of +something good to come, and when the philosopher is roused from his +musings there will be a hot supper ready for him. + +There are two mysteries in the room which arouse our curiosity. In the +wall behind the philosopher's chair is a low, arched door heavily +built with large hinges. Does this lead to some subterranean cavern, +and what secret does it contain? Is it a laboratory where, with +alembic and crucible, the philosopher searches the secrets of alchemy +and tries to find the "philosopher's stone?" Is some hid treasure +stored up there, as precious and as hard to reach as the hidden truths +the philosopher tries to discover? + +At the right side of the room a broad, winding staircase rises in +large spirals and disappears in the gloom above. We follow it with +wondering eyes which try to pierce the darkness and see whither it +leads. Perhaps there is an upper chamber with windows open to the sky +whence the philosopher studies the stars. This place with its winding +staircase would be just such an observatory as an astrologer would +like. Indeed it suggests at once the tower on the hillside near +Florence where Galileo passed his declining years. + +Our philosopher, too, is an old man; his hair has been whitened by +many winters, his face traced over with many lines of thought. Even if +his problems have not all been solved he has found rich satisfaction +in his thinking; the end of his meditations is peace. The day is +drawing to a close. The waning light falls through the window and +illumines the philosopher's venerable face. It throws the upper spiral +of the stairway into bold relief, and brings out all the beautiful +curves in its structure. The bare little room is transfigured. This is +indeed a fit dwelling-place for a philosopher whose thoughts, +penetrating dark mysteries, are at last lighted by some gleams of the +ideal. + + + + +VI + +THE GOOD SAMARITAN + + +The story of the Good Samaritan was related by Jesus to a certain +lawyer as a parable, that is, a story to teach a moral lesson. The +object was to show what was true neighborly conduct; and this was the +story:--[6] + +"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among +thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and +departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a +certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the +other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and +looked on him, and passed by on the other side. + +"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when +he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up +his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and +brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he +departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said +unto him, 'Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I +come again I will repay thee.'" + +[Footnote 6: St. Luke, chapter x. verses 30-37.] + +The point of the story is very plain, and when Jesus asked the lawyer +which one of the three passers-by was a neighbor to the wounded man, +he was forced to reply, "He that shewed mercy." Then said Jesus +simply, "Go, and do thou likewise." + +Though the scene of the story is laid in Palestine, it is the sort of +incident which one can imagine taking place in any country or period +of time. So it seems perfectly proper that Rembrandt, in representing +the subject, should show us an old Dutch scene. The etching +illustrates that moment when the Good Samaritan arrives at the inn, +followed by the wounded traveler mounted on his horse. + +The building is a quaint piece of architecture with arched doors and +windows. That it was built with an eye to possible attacks from +thieves and outlaws, we may see from the small windows and thick walls +of masonry, which make it look like a miniature fortress. This is a +lonely spot, and inns are few and far between. The plaster is cracking +and crumbling from the surface, and the whole appearance of the place +does not betoken great thrift on the part of the owners. On the +present occasion, during the working hours of the day, doors and +windows are open after the hospitable manner of an inn. + +The host stands in the doorway, greeting the strangers, and the Good +Samaritan is explaining the situation to him. In the mean time the inn +servants have come forward: the hostler's boy holds the horse by the +bridle, while a man lifts off the wounded traveler. + +[Illustration: THE GOOD SAMARITAN +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +About the dooryard are the usual signs of life. In the rear a woman +draws water from a well, lowering the bucket from the end of a long +well-sweep, heedless of the stir about the door. Fowl scratch about in +search of food, and there is a dog at one side. Some one within looks +with idle curiosity from the window into the yard. It is little +touches like these which give the scene such vividness and reality. + +There is also a remarkable expressiveness in the figures which tells +the story at a glance. You can see just what the Good Samaritan is +saying, as he gestures with his left hand, and you can guess the +inn-keeper's reply. Already he has put the proffered money into the +wallet he carries at his belt, and listens attentively to the orders +given him. He may privately wonder at his guest's singular kindness to +a stranger, but with him business is business, and his place is to +carry out his guest's wishes. + +You see how the hostler's boy magnifies his office, swaggering with +legs wide apart. Even the feather in his cap bristles with importance. +This bit of comedy contrasts with the almost tragic expression of the +wounded man. The stolid fellow who lifts him seems to hurt him very +much, and he clasps his hands in an agony of pain. He seems to be +telling the gentleman at the window of his recent misfortune. + +To study the picture more critically, it will be interesting to notice +how the important figures are massed together in the centre, and how +the composition is built into a pyramid. Draw a line from the +inn-keeper's head down the stairway at the left, and follow the +outline of the Good Samaritan's right shoulder along the body of the +wounded traveler, and you have the figure. This pyramidal form is +emphasized again by the wainscot of the stairway at the left, and the +well-sweep at the right. + +To appreciate fully the character of the etching, one must examine +attentively all the different kinds of lines which produce the varying +effects of light and shadow. Below the picture Rembrandt wrote his +name and the date 1633, with two Latin words meaning that he designed +and etched the plate himself. This would seem to show that he was well +pleased with his work, and it is interesting to learn that the great +German poet, Goethe, admired the composition extravagantly. + + + + +VII + +THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE + + +The story which the picture of the Presentation illustrates is a story +of the infancy of Jesus Christ. According to the custom of the Jews at +that time, every male child was "presented," or dedicated, to the Lord +when about a month old. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa, a small +town about four miles from the city of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, +where the temple was. When he was about a month old, his mother Mary +and her husband Joseph, who were devout Jews, brought him to the great +city for the ceremony of the presentation in the temple. Now the +temple was a great place of worship where many religious ceremonies +were taking place all the time. + +Ordinarily, a party coming up from the country for some religious +observance would not attract any special attention among the +worshippers. But on the day when the infant Jesus was presented in the +temple, a very strange thing occurred. The evangelist St. Luke[7] +relates the circumstances. + +[Footnote 7: St. Luke, chapter ii. verses 25-35.] + +"And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and +the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of +Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him +by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death, before he had seen the +Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the +parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of +the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, +Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared +before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the +glory of thy people Israel. + +"And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken +of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold +this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and +for a sign which shall be spoken against; that the thought of many +hearts may be revealed." + +[Illustration: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE +_The Hague Gallery_] + +In the picture we find ourselves, as it were, among the worshippers in +the temple, looking at the group on the pavement in front of us--Mary +and Joseph and Simeon, kneeling before a priest, with two or three +onlookers. It is a Gothic cathedral, in whose dim recesses many people +move hither and thither. At the right is a long flight of steps +leading to a throne, which is overshadowed by a huge canopy. At the +top of the steps we see the high priest seated with hands +outstretched, receiving the people who throng up the stairway. It was +towards this stairway that Mary and Joseph were making their way, +when the aged Simeon first saw them, and recognized in the child +they carried the one he had long expected. Taking the babe from his +mother's arms, he kneels on the marble-tiled pavement and raises his +face to heaven in thanksgiving. His embroidered cymar, or robe, falls +about him in rich folds as he clasps his arms about the tiny swaddled +figure. + +Mary has dropped on her knees beside him, listening to his words with +happy wonder. Joseph, just beyond, looks on with an expression of +inquiry. He carries two turtle doves as the thank offering required of +the mother by the religious law. His unkempt appearance and bare feet +contrast with the neat dress of Mary. The tall priest standing before +them extends his hands towards the group in a gesture of benediction. +A broad ray of light gleams on his strange headdress, lights up his +outstretched hand, and falls with dazzling brilliancy upon the soft +round face of the babe, the smiling mother, and the venerable Simeon +with flowing white hair and beard. + +There are but few people to pay any heed to the strange incident. Two +or three of those who climb the stairway turn about and stare +curiously at the group below. There are three others still more +interested. One man behind puts his turbaned head over Simeon's +shoulders, peering inquisitively at the child, as if trying to see +what the old man finds so remarkable in him. Beyond, two old beggars +approach with a sort of good-natured interest. They are quaintly +dressed, one of them wearing a very tall cap. Such humble folk as +these alone seem to have time to notice others' affairs. + +It must not be supposed that this scene very closely represents the +actual event it illustrates. The painter Rembrandt knew nothing about +the architecture of the old Jewish temple destroyed many centuries +before. A Gothic cathedral was the finest house of worship known to +him, so he thought out the scene as it would look in such +surroundings. The people coming and going were such as he saw about +him daily; the beggars looking at the Christ-child were the beggars of +Amsterdam, and the men seated in the wooden settle at the right were +like the respectable Dutch burghers of his acquaintance. It was like +translating the story from Aramaic to Dutch, but in the process +nothing is lost of its original touching beauty. + +In studying the picture, you must notice how carefully all the figures +are painted, even the very small ones in the darkest parts of the +composition. The beautiful contrast, between the light on the central +group and the soft dimness of the remoter parts of the cathedral, +illustrates a style of work for which Rembrandt was very famous, and +which we shall often see in his pictures. + + + + +VIII + +CHRIST PREACHING + + +We read in the evangelists' record of the life of Jesus that he went +about the country preaching the gospel (or the good news) of the +kingdom of Heaven. Sometimes he preached in the synagogue on the +Sabbath day; but more often he talked to the people in the open air, +sometimes on the mountain-side, sometimes on the shore of the lake +Gennesaret, or again in the streets of their towns. + +The scribes and Pharisees were jealous of his popularity, and angry +because he exposed their hypocrisy. The proud and rich found many of +his sayings too hard to accept. So it was the poor and unhappy who +were most eager to hear him, and they often formed a large part of his +audience. Jesus himself rejoiced in this class of followers, and when +John the Baptist's messengers came to him to inquire into his mission, +he sent back the message, "The poor have the gospel preached to them." + +In this picture of Christ Preaching, we see that his hearers are of +just the kind that the preacher's message is intended for,--the weary +and heavy-laden whom he called to himself. There are a few dignitaries +in the gathering, it is true, standing pompously by in the hope of +finding something to criticise. But Jesus pays no attention to them +as he looks down into the faces of the listeners who most need his +words. His pulpit is a square coping-stone in a courtyard, and the +people gather about him in a circle in the positions most convenient +to them. + +There is no formality here, no ceremony; each one may come and go as +he pleases. Here is a mother sitting on the ground directly in front +of the speaker, holding a babe in her arms, while a little fellow +sprawls out on the ground beside her, drawing on the sand with his +finger. Though we cannot see her face, we know that she is an absorbed +listener, and Jesus seems to speak directly to her. + +A pathetic-looking man beyond her is trying to take in the message in +a wondering way, and a long-bearded man behind him is so aroused that +he leans eagerly forward to catch every word. There are others, as is +always the case, who listen very stolidly as if quite indifferent. + +Again there are two who ponder the subject thoughtfully. One of these +is in the rear,--a young man, perhaps one of Jesus' disciples; the +other sits in front, crossing his legs, and supporting his chin with +his hand. In the group at the right of Jesus we can easily pick out +the scoffers and critics, listening intently, some of them more +interested, perhaps, than they had expected to be. + +[Illustration: CHRIST PREACHING +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +As we look at Jesus himself, so gentle and tender, raising both hands +as if to bless the company, we feel sure that he is speaking some +message of comfort. One day when he was reading the Scriptures in +the synagogue at Capernaum, he selected a passage which described his +own work, and which perfectly applies to this picture. We can imagine +that he is saying: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the +Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath +sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the +captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to +proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of +our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in +Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, +the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." + +It is a noticeable fact that the figures in this picture of Christ +preaching are Dutch types. If you think that this is a strange way to +illustrate scenes which took place in Palestine many centuries ago, +you must remember that the picture was drawn by a Dutchman who knew +nothing of Palestine, and indeed little of any country outside his own +Holland. He wished to make the life of Christ seem real and vivid to +his own countrymen; and the only way he could do this was to represent +the scenes in the surroundings most familiar to himself and to them. +The artist was simply trying to imagine what Jesus would do if he had +come to Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, instead of to Jerusalem +in the first century; somewhat as certain modern writers have tried to +think what would take place "If Jesus came to Chicago," or "If Jesus +came to Boston," in the nineteenth century. The sweet gentleness in +the face of Christ and the eager attention of the people show how well +Rembrandt understood the real meaning of the New Testament. + +This picture is worthy of very special study because it is reckoned by +critics one of the best of Rembrandt's etchings. One enthusiastic +writer[8] says that "the full maturity of his genius is expressed in +every feature." One must know a great deal about the technical +processes of etching to appreciate fully all these excellencies; but +even an inexperienced eye can see how few and simple are the lines +which produce such striking effects of light and shadow: a scratch or +two here, a few parallel lines drawn diagonally there; some coarse +cross-hatching in one place, closer hatching in another; now and then +a spot of the black ink itself,--and the whole scene is made alive, +with Jesus standing in the midst, the light gleaming full upon his +figure. + +[Footnote 8: Michel.] + + + + +IX + +CHRIST AT EMMAUS + + +The picture of Christ at Emmaus illustrates an event in the narrative +of Christ's life which took place on the evening of the first Easter +Sunday. It was now three days since the Crucifixion of Christ just +outside Jerusalem, and the terrible scene was still very fresh in the +minds of his disciples. It happened that late in the day two of them +were going to a village called Emmaus, not very far from Jerusalem. + +They made the journey on foot, and as they walked along the way, "they +talked together," says the evangelist[9] who tells the story, "of all +those things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they +communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with +them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he +said unto them, 'What manner of communications are these that ye have +one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?' And the one of them, whose +name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, 'Art thou only a stranger +in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass +there in these days?' And he said unto them, 'What things?' And they +said unto him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth.'" Then followed a +conversation in which they told the stranger something of Jesus, and +he in turn explained to them many things about the life and character +of Jesus which they had never understood. + +[Footnote 9: St. Luke, chapter xxiv. verses 13-32.] + +"And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made +as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, +saying, 'Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far +spent.' And he went in to tarry with them. + +"And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and +blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened +and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said +one to another, 'Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked +with us by the way?'" + +The picture suggests vividly to us that wonderful moment at Emmaus +when the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognized their +guest as Jesus, whom they had so recently seen crucified. The table is +laid in a great bare room with the commonest furnishings, and the +disciples appear to be laboring men, accustomed to "plain living and +high thinking." They are coarsely dressed, and their feet are bare, as +are also the feet of Jesus. One seems to have grasped the situation +more quickly than the other, for he folds his hands together, +reverently gazing directly into the face of Jesus. His companion, +an older man, at the other end of the table, looks up astonished and +mystified. The boy who is bringing food to the table is busy with his +task, and does not notice any change in Jesus. + +[Illustration: CHRIST AT EMMAUS +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +In the midst is Christ, "pale, emaciated, sitting facing us, breaking +the bread as on the evening of the Last Supper, in his pilgrim robe, +with his blackened lips, on which the torture has left its traces, his +great brown eyes soft, widely opened, and raised towards heaven, with +his cold nimbus, a sort of phosphorescence around him which envelops +him in an indefinable glory, and that inexplicable look of a breathing +human being who certainly has passed through death." + +This description is by a celebrated French critic,[10] himself a +painter, who knows whereof he speaks. He says that this picture alone +is enough to establish the reputation of a man. + +[Footnote 10: Fromentin, in _Old Masters of Belgium and Holland._] + +There is one artistic quality in the picture to which we must pay +careful attention, as it is particularly characteristic of Rembrandt. +This is the way in which the light and shadow are arranged, or what a +critic would call the chiaroscuro of the picture. The heart of the +composition glows with a golden light which comes from some unseen +source. It falls on the white tablecloth with a dazzling brilliancy as +if from some bright lamp. It gleams on the faces of the company, +bringing out their expressions clearly. The arched recess behind the +table is thrown into heavy shadow, against which the centrally lighted +group is sharply contrasted. + +This singular manner of bringing light and darkness into striking +opposition makes the objects in a picture stand out very vividly. Some +one has defined chiaroscuro as the "art of rendering the atmosphere +visible and of painting an object enveloped in air." The art was +carried to perfection by Rembrandt. You will notice it more or less in +every picture of this collection, but nowhere is it more appropriate +than here, where the appearance of Christ, as the source of light, +emphasizes the mystery of the event and makes something sacred of this +common scene. + +As we compare this picture with the etching of Christ Preaching, we +get a better idea of Rembrandt's aim in representing Christ. He did +not try to make his face beautiful with regular classical features, +after the manner of the old Italian painters. He did not even think it +necessary to make his figure grand and imposing. Something still +better Rembrandt sought to put into his picture, and this was a gentle +expression of love. + + + + +X + +PORTRAIT OF SASKIA + + +We should have but a very imperfect idea of Rembrandt's work if we did +not learn something about the portraits he painted. It was for these +that he was most esteemed in his own day, being the fashionable +portrait painter of Amsterdam at a time when every person of means +wished to have his likeness painted. A collection of his works of this +kind would almost bring back again the citizens of Amsterdam in the +seventeenth century, so life-like are these wonderful canvases. Among +them we should find the various members of his family, his father and +mother, his sister, his servant, his son, and most interesting of all, +his beloved wife, Saskia. + +Saskia was born in Friesland, one of nine children of a wealthy +patrician family. Her father, Rombertus van Uylenborch, was a +distinguished lawyer, who had had several important political missions +intrusted to him. At one time he was sent as a messenger to William of +Orange, and was sitting at table with that prince just before his +assassination. He died in 1624, leaving Saskia an orphan, as she had +lost her mother five years before. The little girl of twelve now began +to live in turn with her married sisters. At the age of twenty she +came to Amsterdam to live for a while with her cousin, the wife of a +minister, Jan Cornelis Sylvius, whose face we know from one of +Rembrandt's etchings. Saskia had also another cousin living in +Amsterdam, Hendrick van Uylenborch, a man of artistic tastes, who had +not succeeded as a painter, and had become a dealer in bric-à-brac and +engravings. He was an old friend of Rembrandt; and when the young +painter came to seek his fortune in the great city in 1631, he had +made his home for a while with the art dealer. + +It was doubtless Hendrick who introduced Rembrandt to Saskia. Probably +the beginning of their acquaintance was through Rembrandt's painting +Saskia's portrait in 1632. The relation between them soon grew quite +friendly, for in the same year the young girl sat two or three times +again to the painter. The friendship presently ended in courtship, and +when Rembrandt pressed his suit the marriage seemed a very proper one. +Saskia was of a fine family and had a sufficient dowry. + +Rembrandt, though the son of a miller, was already a famous painter, +much sought after for portraits, and with a promising career before +him. The engagement was therefore approved by her guardians, but +marriage being deferred till she came of age, the courtship lasted two +happy years. During this time Rembrandt painted his lady love over and +over again. It was one of his artistic methods to paint the same +person many times. He was not one of the superficial painters who +turn constantly from one model to another in search of new effects. He +liked to make an exhaustive study of a single face in many moods, with +many expressions and varied by different costumes. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF SASKIA +_Cassel Gallery_] + +Saskia had small eyes and a round nose, and was not at all beautiful +according to classical standards. Rembrandt, however, cared less for +beauty than for expression, and Saskia's face was very expressive, at +times merry and almost roguish, and again quite serious. She had also +a brilliant complexion and an abundance of silky hair, waving from her +forehead. The painter had collected in his studio many pretty and +fantastic things to use in his pictures,--velvets and gold embroidered +cloaks, Oriental stuffs, laces, necklaces, and jewels. With these he +loved to deck Saskia, heightening her girlish charms with the play of +light upon these adornments. + +One of the most famous of the many portraits of Saskia at this time is +the picture we have here. Because it is not signed and dated, after +Rembrandt's usual custom, it is thought that it was intended as a gift +for Saskia herself, and thus it has a romantic interest for us. Also +it is painted with extreme care, as the work of a lover offering the +choicest fruit of his art. + +The artist has arranged a picturesque costume for his sitter,--a +broad-brimmed hat of red velvet with a sweeping white feather, an +elaborate dress with embroidered yoke and full sleeves, a rich mantle +draped over one shoulder, necklace, earrings, and bracelets of +pearls. Her expression is more serious here than usual, though very +happy, as if she was thinking of her lover; and in her hand she +carries a sprig of rosemary, which in Holland is the symbol of +betrothal, holding it near her heart. + +The marriage finally took place in June, 1634, in the town of Bildt. +The bridal pair then returned to Amsterdam to a happy home life. +Rembrandt had no greater pleasure than in the quiet family circle, and +Saskia had a simple loving nature, entirely devoted to her husband's +happiness. A few years later Rembrandt moved into a fine house in the +Breestraat, which he furnished richly with choice paintings and works +of art. + +A succession of portraits shows that the painter continued to paint +his wife with loving pride. He represented her as a Jewish bride, as +Flora, as an Odalisque, a Judith, a Susanna, and a Bathsheba. There is +one painting of the husband and wife together, Saskia perched like a +child on Rembrandt's knee, as he flourishes a wine-glass in the air. +In another picture (an etching) they sit together at a table about the +evening lamp, the wife with her needle-work, the artist with his +engraving. The love between them is the brightest spot in Rembrandt's +history, clouded as it was with many disappointments and troubles. As +a celebrated writer has expressed it, Saskia was "a ray of sunshine in +the perpetual chiaroscuro of his life." + + + + +XI + +THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD, OR THE NIGHT WATCH + + +The patriotism of the Dutch is seen through the entire history of +"brave little Holland." Early in the sixteenth century every town of +considerable size had a military company composed of the most +prominent citizens. Each company, or guild, had a place of assembly, +or _doelen_, and a drilling-ground. The officers were chosen for a +year, and the highest appointments were those of captain, lieutenant, +and ensign. Upon these civic guards rested the responsibility of +maintaining the order and safety of the town. Sterner duties than +these were theirs when in the late sixteenth century (1573), at the +call of William of Orange, the various guilds formed themselves into +volunteer companies to resist the Spanish. How well they acquitted +themselves is a matter of history, and Spain recognized the republic +in the treaty of 1609. After the war, many of the corporations were +reorganized and continued to be of great importance in the seventeenth +century. + +The picture we have here represents the Civic Guard of Amsterdam +during the captaincy of Frans Banning Cocq in 1642. Cocq was a man of +wealth and influence who had purchased the estate of Purmerland in +1618 and had also been granted a patent of nobility. So it was natural +that Lord Purmerland, one of the most distinguished citizens of the +town, should be called to a term of office as captain of the Civic +Guard. His magnificent stature and manly bearing show him well fitted +for the honor. + +The picture represents an occasion when the guard issues from the +assembly hall, or doelen, in a sudden call to action. Captain Cocq +leads the way with Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenberg, of Vlaerdingen, +and as he advances gives orders to his fellow officer. The drum beats, +the ensign unfurls the standard, every man carries a weapon of some +sort. One is priming a musket, another loading his gun, another +firing. A mass of lance-bearers press on from the rear. In the +confusion a dog scampers into the midst and barks furiously at the +drum. A little girl slips into the crowd on the other side, oddly out +of place in such company, but quite fearless. It has been suggested +that she may have been the bearer of the tidings which calls the guard +forth. The quaint figure is clad in a long dress of some shimmering +stuff, and she has the air of a small princess. From her belt hangs a +cock, and she turns her face admiringly towards the great captain. + +[Illustration: SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD +_Ryks Museum, Amsterdam_] + +We do not know of any historical incident which precisely corresponds +to the action in the picture. Indeed, it is not strictly speaking an +historical picture at all, but rather a portrait group of the Civic +Guard, in attitudes appropriate to their character as a military +body. They may be going out for target practice or for a shooting +match such as was held annually as a trial of skill; it may be a +parade, or it may be, as some have fancied, a call to arms against a +sudden attack from the enemy. In any case the noticeable thing is the +readiness with which all respond to the call--the spirit of patriotism +which animates the body. The Dutch are not naturally warlike, but +rather a peace-loving people; lacking the quick impulsiveness of a +more nervous race, they are of a somewhat heavy and deliberate temper; +yet they have the solid worth which can be counted on in an emergency, +and in love of country they are united to a man. Benjamin Franklin +once said of Holland, "In love of liberty, and bravery in the defense +of it, she has been our great example." + +The picture cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of its +history. Painted for the hall of the Amsterdam Musketeers, it was to +take its place among others by contemporary painters, as a portrait +group in honor of the officers of the year, and as a lasting memorial +of their services. The other pictures had been stiff groups about a +table, and the novelty of Rembrandt's composition displeased some of +the members of the guild. Each person who figures in the scene had +subscribed a certain sum towards the cost of the picture for his own +portrait, and was anxious to get his money's worth. Consequently, +there were many who did not at all relish their insignificance in the +background, quite overshadowed by the glory of the captain and +lieutenant. They thought they would have shown to much better +advantage arranged in rows. + +It was Rembrandt's way when painting a portrait to give life and +reality to the figure, by showing the leading element in the character +or occupation of the person. Thus his shipbuilder is designing a ship, +the writing master, Coppenol, is mending a pen, the architect has his +drawing utensils, and the preacher his Bible. So in the Civic Guard +each man carries a weapon, and the figures are united in spirited +action. All this artistic motive was lost upon those for whom the +picture was painted, because of their petty vanity. So the great +painting, now so highly esteemed, was not a success at the time. + +In the following century it was removed to the town hall; and in order +to fit it into a particular place on the wall, a strip was cut off +each side the canvas. It is the loss of these margins which gives the +composition the crowded appearance which so long seemed a strange +fault in a great artist like Rembrandt. + +The original colors of the painting grew so dark with the accumulation +of smoke in the hall that the critics supposed the scene occurred at +night, hence the incorrect name of the Night Watch was given to it. +Since the picture was cleaned, in 1889, it is apparent that the +incident occurred in the daytime, and if you look carefully you can +plainly see the shadow of Captain Cocq's hand on the lieutenant's +tunic. + + + + +XII + +PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX + + +When the painter Rembrandt came to Amsterdam in 1631, a young man +seeking his fortune in the great city, a lad of twelve years was +living in his father's country seat, near by, who was later to become +one of his warm friends. This was Jan Six, the subject of the portrait +etching reproduced here. There was a great contrast in the +circumstances of life in which the two friends grew up. Rembrandt was +the son of a miller, and had his own way to make in the world. Jan Six +was surrounded from his earliest years with everything which tended to +the gratification of his natural taste for culture. Rembrandt's rare +talent, however, overbalanced any lack of early advantages, and made +him a friend worth having. + +Six had come of Huguenot ancestry. His grandfather had fled to Holland +during the Huguenot persecution in France, and had become a resident +in Amsterdam in 1585. Jan's father, another Jan, had married a Dutch +lady of good family, whose maiden name was Anna Wijmer. It was in the +service of this good lady that we first hear of Rembrandt's connection +with the Six family. He was called to paint her portrait in 1641, and +must have then, if not before, made the acquaintance of her young +son, Jan. Jan united to a great love of learning a love of everything +beautiful, and was an ardent collector of objects of art. Paintings of +the old Italian and early Dutch schools, rare prints and curios of +various kinds, were his delight. He found in Rembrandt a man after his +own heart. Already the painter had gone far beyond his means in +filling his own house with costly works of art. So the two men, having +a hobby in common, found a strong bond of union in their congenial +tastes. We may be sure that they were often together, to show their +new purchases and discuss their beauty. + +Rembrandt, as an older and more experienced collector, would doubtless +have good advice to offer his younger friend, and, an artist himself, +would know how to judge correctly a work of art. One record of their +friendship in these years is a little etched landscape which Rembrandt +made in 1641, showing a bridge near the country estate of the Six +family, a place called Elsbroek, near the village of Hillegom. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +It was in 1647 that Rembrandt made this portrait of his friend, then +twenty-nine years of age. Six had now begun to make a name for himself +in the world of letters as a scholar and poet. He had already +published a poem on Muiderberg (a village near Amsterdam), and by this +time, doubtless, had under way his great literary work, the tragedy of +Medæa. Many were the times when Rembrandt, coming to his house to talk +over some new treasure-trove, found him in his library with his +head buried in a book, and his thoughts far away. It was in such a +moment that he must have had the idea of this beautiful portrait. He +catches his friend one day in the corner of his library, standing with +his back to the window to get the light on the book he is reading. He +transfers the picture to a copper plate and hands it down to future +generations. + +The slender figure of the young man is clad in the picturesque dress +of a gentleman of his time, with knee-breeches and low shoes, with +wide white collar and cuffs. His abundant wavy blond hair falls to his +shoulders; he has the air of a true poet. In his eagerness to read, he +has flung his cavalier's cloak on the window seat behind him, a part +of it dropping upon a chair beyond. Its voluminous folds make a +cushion for him, as he leans gracefully against the window ledge. His +sword and belt lie on the chair with the cloak. For the moment the pen +is mightier than the sword. The furnishings of the room show the +owner's tastes; a pile of folio volumes fill a low chair, an antique +picture hangs on the wall. + +The young man's face is seen by the light reflected from the pages of +his open book. It is a refined, sensitive face, of high intellectual +cast, amiable withal, and full of imagination. He is completely +absorbed in his reading, a smile playing about his mouth. How little +of a fop and how much of a poet he is, we see from his disordered +collar. Breathing quickly as he bends over his book, in his +excitement he cannot endure the restraint of a close collar. He has +unloosed it, as, quite oblivious of any untidiness in his appearance, +he hurries on, ruthlessly crushing the pages of the folio back, as he +grasps it in his hand. + +The friendship between Six and Rembrandt seemed to grow apace; for +when the tragedy of Medæa was published, in 1648, it was illustrated +by a magnificent etching by Rembrandt, representing the Marriage of +Jason and Creusa. + +The literary work of Jan Six led the way to various public honors. In +1656 he became commissioner of marriages; in 1667, a member of the +Council of the States General of Holland, and in 1691, burgomaster of +Amsterdam. His continued friendship for Rembrandt was shown in his +purchasing a number of the latter's paintings. Rembrandt at length +painted a magnificent portrait of his friend in his old age, which, +with the portrait of his mother and the original plate for this +etching, still remains in the Six family in Amsterdam. Referring to +the portrait of Jan Six, the famous Dutch poet, Vondel, contemporary +of Rembrandt and Six, paid a fitting tribute to the great burgomaster, +as a "lover of science, art, and virtue." + + + + +XII + +PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN + + +The story is told of a little child who, upon being introduced to a +kind-faced lady, looked up brightly into her eyes with the question, +"Whose mother are you?" When we look into the wrinkled old face of +this picture, the same sort of a question springs to mind, and we +involuntarily ask, "Whose grandmother are you?" We are sure that +children and grandchildren have leaned upon that capacious lap. The +name of the subject is not known, though the same face appears many +times in Rembrandt's works. But there are many people whose names we +can quote, of whom we know much less than of this old woman. + +The story of her life is written in the picture. Those clasped hands, +large and knotted, have done much hard work. They have ministered to +the needs of two generations. They have dandled the baby on her knee, +and supported the little toddler taking his first steps. They have +tended the child and wrought for the youth. They have built the fire +on the hearth and swept out the house; they have kneaded the bread and +filled the kettle; they have spun and woven, and sewed and mended. +They have not even shrunk from the coarser labors of dooryard and +field, the care of the cattle, the planting and harvesting. But labor +has done nothing to coarsen the innate refinement of the soul which +looks out of the fine old face. + +She is resting now. The children and grandchildren have grown up to +take care of themselves and their grandmother also. She has time to +sit down in the twilight of life, just as she used to sit down at the +close of each day's work, to think over what has happened. She has a +large comfortable chair, and she is neatly dressed, as befits an old +woman whose life work is done. A white kerchief is folded across her +bosom, a shawl is wrapped about her shoulders, and a hood droops over +her forehead. Her thoughts are far away from her present surroundings; +something sad occupies them. She dreams of the past and perhaps also +of the future. Sorrow as well as work has had a large share in her +life, but she has borne it all with patient resignation. She is not +one to complain, and does not mean to trouble others with her sadness. +But left all alone with her musings, a look of yearning comes into her +eyes as for something beautiful and much loved, lost long ago. + +Some painters have been at great pains to fashion a countenance +sorrowful enough and patient enough to represent the subject of the +Mater Dolorosa, that is, the Sorrowing Mother of Christ. Perhaps they +would have succeeded better if they had turned away from their own +imaginations to some mother in real life, who has loved and worked +and suffered like this one. The face answers in part our first +question. A woman like this is capable of mothering great sons. +Industrious, patient, self-sacrificing, she would spare herself +nothing to train them faithfully. And the life of which her face +speaks--a life of self-denying toil, ennobled by high ideals of +duty--is the stuff of which heroes are made. Some of the great men of +history had such mothers. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN +_Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg_] + +The picture illustrates the fact that a face may be interesting and +even artistic, if not beautiful. This idea may surprise many, for when +one calls a person "as pretty as a picture," it seems to be understood +that it is only pretty people who make suitable models for pictures. +Rembrandt, however, was of quite another mind. He was a student of +character as well as a painter, and he cared to paint faces more for +their expression than for beauty of feature. + +Now the expression of a face is to a great extent the index of +character. We say that the child has "no character in his face," +meaning that his skin is still fair and smooth, before his thoughts +and feelings have made any record there. Gradually the character +impresses itself on his face. Experience acts almost like a sculptor's +chisel, carving lines of care and grooving furrows of sorrow, shaping +the mouth and the setting of the eyes. + +The longer this process continues, the more expressive the face +becomes, so that it is the old whose faces tell the most interesting +stories of life. Rembrandt understood this perfectly, and none ever +succeeded better than he in revealing the poetry and beauty of old +age. + +His way of showing the character in the face of this old woman is very +common with him. The high light of the picture is concentrated on the +face and is continued down upon the snowy kerchief. This forms a +diamond of light shading by gradations into darker tints. It was the +skillful use of light and shadow in the picture, which made a poetic +and artistic work of a subject which another painter might have made +very commonplace. + + + + +XIV + +THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD + + +The word syndic is a name applied to an officer of a corporation, and +this is its meaning in the title of the picture, The Syndics of the +Cloth Guild. In Holland, as in England and France and elsewhere in +Europe, guilds were associations of tradesmen or artisans united for +purposes of mutual help and for the interests of their respective +industries. In some points they were the forerunners of modern trades +unions, except that the members were proprietary merchants and master +craftsmen instead of employees, and their purpose was the advancement +of commercial interests in municipal affairs, instead of the +protection of labor against capital. There were guilds of mercers, +wine merchants, goldsmiths, painters and many others. + +Now the wool industry was one of the most important in Holland, hence +the Guild of Drapers or Cloth Workers was a dignified association in +several cities. There was one in Leyden, where Rembrandt was born, and +another in Amsterdam, where he passed the most of his life. Amsterdam +was at that time the foremost commercial city of Europe. Its guilds +had fine halls, ornamented with works of art painted by the best +contemporary artists. It was for this purpose that Rembrandt received +from the Amsterdam Cloth Guild the commission to paint a portrait +group of their five officers, and he accordingly delivered to them in +1661 the great picture of which we have this little reproduction to +examine. + +Just as in the picture of the Civic Guard he had given life to the +portraits, by showing the members in some action appropriate to their +military character, so here he represents the officers of the guild in +surroundings suggestive of their duties. They are gathered about a +table covered with a rich scarlet cloth, on which rests the great +ledger of the corporation. They are engaged in balancing their +accounts and preparing a report for the year, and a servant awaits +their order in the rear of the apartment. Their task seems a pleasant +one, for whatever difficulties have arisen during their +administration, it is evident that the outcome is successful. They +take a quiet satisfaction in the year's record. + +It is as if in the midst of their consultations, as they turn the +leaves of the ledger, we suddenly open the door into the room. They +are surprised but not disturbed by the intrusion, and look genially +towards the newcomers. The younger man at the end welcomes us with a +smile. Next to him is one who has been leaning over the book. He +raises his head and meets our eyes frankly and cordially. His +companion continues his discourse, gesturing with the right hand. The +older men at one side give more attention to the arrival. One seated +in the armchair smiles good naturedly; the other, rising and +leaning on the table, peers forward with a look of keen inquiry. + +[Illustration: THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD +_Ryks Museum, Amsterdam_] + +As we examine the faces one by one, we could almost write a character +study of each man, so wonderfully does the portrait reveal the inner +life--the placid amiability of one, the quiet humor of another, the +keen, incisive insight of a third. That they are all men of sound +judgment we may well believe, and they are plainly men to be trusted. +The motto of the guild is a key to their character: "Conform to your +vows in all matters clearly within their jurisdiction; live honestly; +be not influenced in your judgments by favor, hatred, or personal +interest." These principles are at the foundation of the commercial +prosperity for which Holland is noted. + +The picture may be taken to illustrate a page in American history. It +was the Dutch, as we all remember, who founded the State of New York, +and the fifty years of their occupation (1614-1664) fell within the +lifetime of Rembrandt. The fifteen thousand settlers, who came during +this time from Holland to America, brought with them the manners and +customs of their home country. The citizens of New Amsterdam were the +counterparts of their contemporaries in the old Amsterdam. We may see, +then, in this picture of the Cloth Merchants of Amsterdam just such +men as were to be seen among our own colonists. In the broad-brimmed +hat and the wide white collar we find the same peculiarities of dress, +and in their honest faces we read the same national traits. It was to +men like these that we owe a debt of gratitude for some of the best +elements in our national life. In the words of a historian,[11] "The +republican Dutchmen gave New York its tolerant and cosmopolitan +character, insured its commercial supremacy, introduced the common +schools, founded the oldest day school and the first Protestant church +in the United States, and were pioneers in most of the ideas and +institutions we boast of as distinctly American." + +[Footnote 11: W. E. Griffis, in _Brave Little Holland_, pp. 212-213.] + +If you fancy that it was quite accidental that the six figures of this +picture are so well arranged, and wonder why the art of Rembrandt +should be so praised here, you may try an experiment with your camera +upon a group of six figures. In posing six persons in any order which +is not stiff, and getting them all to look with one accord and quite +naturally towards a single point, you will understand some of the many +difficulties which Rembrandt overcame so simply. + + + + +XV + +THE THREE TREES + + +Holland, as is well known, is a country built upon marshes, which have +been drained and filled in by the patient industry of many generations +of workers. The land is consequently very low, almost perfectly level, +and is covered by a network of canals. It lacks many of the features +which make up the natural scenery of other countries,--mountains and +ravines, rocks and rivers,--but it is, nevertheless, a very +picturesque country. Artists love it for the quiet beauty of its +landscape. Though this is not grand and awe-inspiring, it is restful +and attractive. + +We may well believe that the artistic nature of Rembrandt was +sensitive to the influences of his native Dutch scenery. Though his +great forte in art lay in other directions, he paused from time to +time to paint or etch a landscape. + +Even in this unaccustomed work he proved himself a master. He treated +the subject much as he did a portrait,--trying to bring out the +character of the scene just as he brought out the character in a face. +How much of a story he could tell in a single picture we see in this +famous etching called The Three Trees. + +One can tell at a glance that this is Holland. We look across a wide +level stretch of land, and the eye travels on and on into an almost +endless distance. Far away we see the windmills of a Dutch town +outlined against the sky,--a sign of industry as important in Holland +as are factory chimneys in some other parts of the world. Beyond this, +another endless level stretch meets the sky at the horizon line. It is +hard to distinguish the land and water, which seem to lie in alternate +strips. The pastures are surrounded by canals as by fences. + +Here and there are cows grazing, and we are reminded of the fine dairy +farms for which Holland is noted, the rich butter and cheese, which +are the product of these vast flat lands, apparently so useless and +unproductive. Directly in front of us, at the left, is a still pool, +and on the farther bank stands a fisherman holding a rod over the +water. A woman seated on the bank watches the process with intense +interest. There are two other figures near by which can hardly be +discerned. + +[Illustration: THE THREE TREES +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +The wide outlook of flat country is the setting for the little +tree-crowned hill which rises near us at the right. It would seem a +very small hillock anywhere else, but in these level surroundings it +has a distinct character. It is the one striking feature which gives +expression to the face of the landscape. The eye turns with pleasure +to its grassy slopes and leafy trees. The trees have the symmetrical +grace so characteristic of Dutch vegetation. Nothing is allowed to +grow wild in this country. Every growing thing is carefully nurtured +and trained. We see that the distances between these trees were +carefully spaced in the planting, so that each one might develop +independently and perfectly without injury to the others. The branches +grow from their straight trunks at the same height, and they are +plainly of the same age. Their outer branches interlace in brotherly +companionship to make a solid leafy arbor, beneath which the wayfarer +may find a shady retreat. On the summit of the hill, outlined against +the sky, is a hay wagon followed by a man with a rake. At a distance, +also clearly seen against the sky, on the ridge of the hill, sits a +man, alone and idle. + +The sky is a wonderful part of the picture. Rembrandt, it appears, +almost never ventured to represent the clouds. He had the true +artist's reverence for subjects which were beyond his skill, and +preferred to leave untouched what he could not do well. Now in this +case, lacking the experience to draw a sky as finished in workmanship +as his landscape, he _suggested_ in a few lines the effect which he +wished to produce. At the left a few diagonal strokes show a smart +shower just at hand. A whirl of dark-colored clouds comes next, and in +the upper air beyond, a stratum of clouds is indicated by a mass of +lines crossing and recrossing in long swirling curves. + +With these few lines Rembrandt conveys perfectly the idea that a storm +is approaching. The clouds seem to be in motion, scurrying across the +sky in advance of the rain. One imaginative critic has thought that +he could discern in the cloud-whirl a dim phantom figure as of the +spirit of the on-coming storm. Like the clouds we often see in nature, +it takes some new fantastic shape every time we look at it. Altogether +the impression we receive is that of vivid reality. The artist's few +lines have produced with perfect success an effect, which might have +been entirely spoiled had he tried to finish it carefully. + +We look once more at the landscape to see what influence the coming +storm has upon it. The fisherman pays no heed. The clouding of the sky +only makes the fish bite better, and absorbed in his sport he cares +nothing for weather. The haymaker on the hilltop has a better chance +to read the face of the sky, and starts up his wagon. The three trees +seem to feel the impending danger. Their leafage is already darkening +in the changed light, and they toss their branches in the wind, as if +to wrestle with the spirit of the storm. + + + + +XVI + +THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT + + +In studying the fifteen pictures of this collection, we have seen +something of the work of the great Dutch master, Rembrandt, and have +learned a little of the man himself, of his love for the sweet wife, +Saskia, of his friendship with the cultured burgomaster, Jan Six, of +his faithful and reverent study of the Bible, of his rare insight into +people's character. We are ready now to look directly into the +artist's own face, in a portrait by his own hand. + +There are a great many portraits of Rembrandt etched and painted by +himself. We have noticed how fond he was of painting the same model +many times, in order to make a thorough study of the face, in varying +moods and expressions. Now there was one sitter who was always at +hand, and ready to do his bidding. He had only to take a position in +front of a mirror, and there was this model willing to pose in any +position and with any expression he desired. So obliging a sitter +could nowhere else be found; and thus it is that there is such a large +collection of his self-made portraits. + +His habit of painting his own portrait gave him an opportunity to +study all sorts of costume effects. His patrons were plain, slow-going +Dutchmen who did not want any "fancy" effects in their portraits. +They wished first of all a faithful likeness in such clothing as they +ordinarily wore. It was chiefly in his own portraits that Rembrandt +had the satisfaction of painting the rich and fanciful costumes he +loved so well. He wore in turn all sorts of hats and caps, many jewels +and ornaments, and every variety of mantle, doublet, and cuirass. In +this he was somewhat like an actor taking the parts of many different +characters. Sometimes he is an officer with mustaches fiercely +twisted, carrying his head with a dashing military air. Again he is a +cavalier wearing his velvet mantle, and plumed hat, with the languid +elegance of a gentleman of leisure. Sometimes he seems a mere country +boor, a rough, unkempt fellow, with coarse features and a heavy +expression. + +As we see him acting so many rôles, we may well wonder what the +character of the man really was. As a matter of fact, he was full of +singular contradictions. In his personal habits he was frugal and +temperate to the last degree, preferring the simplest fare, and +contenting himself with a lunch of herring and cheese when occupied +with his work. On the other hand, his artistic tastes led him into +reckless extravagance. He thought no price too great to pay for a +choice painting, or rare print, upon which he had set his heart. He +was generous to a fault, fond of his friends, yet living much alone. + +In the portrait we have chosen for our frontispiece, we like to +believe that we see Rembrandt, the man himself. He wears one of his +rich studio costumes, but the face which he turns to ours is quite +free from any affectation; a spirit of sincerity looks out of his +kindly eyes. The portrait is signed and dated 1640, so that the man is +between thirty and thirty-five years of age. This was the happiest +period of Rembrandt's life, while his wife Saskia was still living to +brighten his home. + +We see his contentment in his face. He has large mobile features, +which have here settled into an expression of genial repose. He has +the dignified bearing of one whose professional success entitles him +to a just sense of self-satisfaction, but he is not posing as a great +man. He is still a simple-hearted miller's son, a man whom we should +like to meet in his own family circle, with his little ones playing +about him. He is a man to whom children might run, sure of a friendly +welcome; he is a man whom strangers might trust, sure of his +sincerity. It is, in short, Rembrandt, with all the kindliest human +qualities uppermost, which show us, behind the artist, the man +himself. + + * * * * * + + + + +PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS + +The Diacritical Marks given are those found in the latest edition of +Webster's International Dictionary. + +EXPLANATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS. + + +A Dash (¯) above the vowel denotes the long sound, as in fāte, ēve, + tīme, nōte, ūse. + +A Dash and a Dot (-̇) above the vowel denote the same sound, less + prolonged. + +A Curve (˘) above the vowel denotes the short sound, as in ădd, ĕnd, + ĭll, ŏdd, ŭp. + +A Dot ( ̇) above the vowel a denotes the obscure sound of a in pȧst, + ȧbāte, Amĕricȧ. + +A Double Dot (¨) above the vowel a denotes the broad sound of a in + fäther, älms. + +A Double Dot (..) below the vowel a denotes the sound of a in ba̤ll. + +A Wave (~) above the vowel e denotes the sound of e in hẽr. + +A Circumflex Accent (^) above the vowel o denotes the sound of o in bôrn. + +ḗ sounds like e in dḗpĕnd. + +ṓ sounds like o in prṓpōse. + +ç sounds like s. + +c̵ sounds like k. + +ṣ̱ sounds like z. + +ḡ is hard as in ḡet. + +ġ is soft as in ġem. + + +Amsterdam (Ăm'stẽrdăm). + +Apocrypha (ȧ pŏḱrĭ fȧ). + +Aramaic (Ărȧmā'ĭc̵). + +Asenath (Āsē'năth). + +Assyria (Ăssy̆r'ĭȧ). + +Azarias (Ăzȧrī'ăs). + + +Bathsheba (Băthshē'bȧ). + +Bethlehem (Bĕth'lēhĕm). + +Bildt (bēlt). + +Braun (brown). +̄ +Breestraat (brā'strät). + +burgher (bẽr'gẽr). + + +Capernaum (c̵āpẽr'nāŭm). + +Cassel (käs'sĕl). + +chiaroscuro (kyä rṓ sk[=oo]'rṓ). + +Cleopas (c̵lē'ōpăs). + +Cocq (kōk̄). + +Coppenol (kŏp'pḗ nŏ). + +Creusa (c̵rēū́sȧ). + +cuirass (kwē räs'). + +cymar (sī mär'). + + +doelen (d[=oo]'lĕn). + + +Ecbatane (ĕk băt'ȧ nŭ). + +Elsbroek (ĕls'br[=oo]k). + +Emmaus (Emmā'ŭs (or ĕm'mā ŭs)). + +Enemessar (Enēmĕs'săr). + +Ephraim (E'phrāĭm). + +etzn (ĕt'zn̆). + + +Friesland (frēz'lȧnd). + +Fromentin (frṓ-mŏN-tăN'). + + +Gabael (Găb'ā̇ĕl (or gā̇'bā̇ ĕl)). + +Galileo (Gălĭlē'ṓ). + +Gennesaret (Ġĕnnĕs'ȧrĕt). + +Goethe (ḡẽ'tŭ). + + +Hague (hāg). + +Hamelin (hä'mĕ lĭn). + +Hanfstaengl, Franz (hänf'stāngl fränts). + +Hatto (hăt'ṓ). + +Hillegom (hĭl'lḗ gŏm). + + +Israel (ĭz'rā̇-ĕl). + + +Jason (Jā'sŏn). + +Jericho (Jĕr'ĭc̵hō). + +Joden (yō'dĕn). + + +Lastman, Pieter (läst'män pē'tẽr). + +Leyden (lī'dĕn). + +Louvre (l[=oo]́vr). + + +Manasseh (mȧ năs'sŭ). + +Manoah (Mā̇nō'ȧh). + +Mater Dolorosa (mā'tẽr dŏl ṓ rō'sȧ). + +Medæa (mḗ dē'ȧ). + +Media (mē'dĭ ȧ). + +Michel (mḗ shĕl'). + +Muiderberg (moi'de̯r bĕrg). + + +Nazareth (Năz'ȧrĕth). + +Nineveh (nĭn'ḗ vŭ). + + +Odalisque (ō'dȧ lĭsk). + + +Padanaram (Pādȧnā'rȧm). + +Palestine (Păl'ĕstīne). + +Peniel (Pḗnī'ḗl). + +Penuel (Pḗnū'ĕl). + +Purmerland (Pŭr'mẽrlănd). + + +Rages (Rā'gēs). + +Raguel (Rā̇gū'ĕl (or răg'ū ĕl)). + +Raphael (rä'fā-ĕl). + +Rembrandt (rĕm'brănt). + +Ruytenberg, Willem van (roi'te̯n bĕrg wĭl'lĕm vän). + +Ryks (Rȳks). + + +Saskia (säs'kḗ ȧ). + +Sennacherib (Sĕnnăch'ḗrĭb). + +Simeon (Sĭm'ē̇ŏn). + +Six, Jan (sēx yän). + +Stuttgart (st[)oo]t'gärt). + +Sylvius, Jan Cornelis (sĭl'vḗ [)oo]s yän kṓr nē'lĭs). + +Syndic (Sy̆n'dĭc̵). + +Swanenburch (swä'nĕn b[)oo]rK). + + +Tigris (Tī'grĭs). + +Tobias (Tṓbī'ăs). + +Tobit (Tō'bĭt). + +Trippenhuis (trĭp'pĕn hois). + + +Uylenborch, Rombertus van (oi'lĕn bṓrK rŏm bĕr't[)oo]s vän). + + +Vlaerdingen (vlär'dĭng ĕn). + +Vondel (vŏn'dĕl). + + +Wijmer (wī'mẽr). + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19602-0.zip b/19602-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6877e47 --- /dev/null +++ b/19602-0.zip diff --git a/19602-8.txt b/19602-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8f9735 --- /dev/null +++ b/19602-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2863 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. Hurll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rembrandt + A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the + Painter with Introduction and Interpretation + +Author: Estelle M. Hurll + +Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #19602] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMBRANDT *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: REMBRANDT VAN RYN (BY HIMSELF) + _National Gallery, London_] + + + + Masterpieces of Art + + + REMBRANDT + + + A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES + + AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER + + WITH INTRODUCTION AND + + INTERPRETATION + + + + BY + + ESTELLE M. HURLL + + + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + The Riverside Press Cambridge + + 1899 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +The choice of pictures for this collection has been made with the +object of familiarizing the student with works fairly representative +of Rembrandt's art in portraiture and Biblical illustration, landscape +and genre study, in painting and etching. Admirers of the Dutch master +may miss some well-known pictures. For obvious reasons the Lecture in +Anatomy is deemed unsuitable for this place, and the Hundred Guilder +Print contains too many figures to be reproduced here clearly. The +Syndics of the Cloth Guild and the print of Christ Preaching will +compensate for these omissions, and show Rembrandt at his best, both +with brush and burin. + +There are perhaps no paintings in the world more difficult to +reproduce satisfactorily in black and white than those of Rembrandt. +His marvelous effects of chiaroscuro leave in darkness portions of the +composition, which appear in the photograph as unintelligible blurs. +With these difficulties to meet, great pains have been taken to select +for the reproductions of this book the best photographs made direct +from the original paintings. A comparative study of the available +material has resulted in making use of an almost equal number from +Messrs. Hanfstaengl & Co. and Messrs. Braun & Cie. + +In reproducing the etchings the publishers have been most fortunate in +being able to use for the purpose original prints in the Harvey D. +Parker Collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. + +ESTELLE M. HURLL. + +NEW BEDFORD, MASS. + +November, 1899. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES + + +PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT. PAINTED BY HIMSELF. _Frontispiece._ + +FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE. + +INTRODUCTION + + I. ON REMBRANDT'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST + + II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + + III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION + + IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REMBRANDT'S LIFE + + V. SOME OF REMBRANDT'S FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES IN HOLLAND + + VI. FOREIGN CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS + +I. JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +II. ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +III. THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +IV. THE RAT KILLER + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +V. THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +VI. THE GOOD SAMARITAN + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +VII. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +VIII. CHRIST PREACHING + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +IX. CHRIST AT EMMAUS + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +X. PORTRAIT OF SASKIA + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +XI. THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +XII. PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +XIII. PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +XIV. THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +XV. THE THREE TREES + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +XVI. THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT (_See Frontispiece_) + +PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS + + * * * * * + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +I. ON REMBRANDT'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST + + +A general impression prevails with the large picture-loving public +that a special training is necessary to any proper appreciation of +Rembrandt. He is the idol of the connoisseur because of his superb +mastery of technique, his miracles of chiaroscuro, his blending of +colors. Those who do not understand these matters must, it is +supposed, stand quite without the pale of his admirers. Too many +people, accepting this as a dictum, take no pains to make the +acquaintance of the great Dutch master. It may be that they are +repelled at the outset by Rembrandt's indifference to beauty. His +pictures lack altogether those superficial qualities which to some are +the first requisites of a picture. Weary of the familiar commonplaces +of daily life, the popular imagination looks to art for happier scenes +and fairer forms. This taste, so completely gratified by Raphael, is +at first strangely disappointed by Rembrandt. While Raphael peoples +his canvases with beautiful creatures of another realm, Rembrandt +draws his material from the common world about us. In place of the +fair women and charming children with whom Raphael delights us, he +chooses his models from wrinkled old men and beggars. Rembrandt is +nevertheless a poet and a visionary in his own way. "For physical +beauty he substitutes moral expression," says Fromentin. If in the +first glance at his picture we see only a transcript of common life, +a second look discovers something in this common life that we have +never before seen there. We look again, and we see behind the +commonplace exterior the poetry of the inner life. A vision of the +ideal hovers just beyond the real. Thus we gain refreshment, not by +being lifted out of the world, but by a revelation of the beauty which +is in the world. Rembrandt becomes to us henceforth an interpreter of +the secrets of humanity. As Raphael has been surnamed "the divine," +for the godlike beauty of his creations, so Rembrandt is "the human," +for his sympathetic insight into the lives of his fellow men. + +Even for those who are slow to catch the higher meaning of Rembrandt's +work, there is still much to entertain and interest in his rare +story-telling power--a gift which should in some measure compensate +for his lack of superficial beauty. His story themes are almost +exclusively Biblical, and his style is not less simple and direct than +the narrative itself. Every detail counts for something in the +development of the dramatic action. Probably no other artist has +understood so well the pictorial qualities of patriarchal history. +That singular union of poetry and prose, of mysticism and practical +common sense, so striking in the Hebrew character, appealed powerfully +to Rembrandt's imagination. It was peculiarly well represented in the +scenes of angelic visitation. Jacob wrestling with the Angel affords a +fine contrast between the strenuous realities of life and the pure +white ideal rising majestically beyond. The homely group of Tobit's +family is glorified by the light of the radiant angel soaring into +heaven from the midst of them. + +Rembrandt's New Testament scenes are equally well adapted to emphasize +the eternal immanence of the supernatural in the natural. The +Presentation in the Temple is invested with solemn significance; the +simple Supper at Emmaus is raised into a sacrament by the transfigured +countenance of the Christ. For all these contrasts between the actual +and the ideal, Rembrandt had a perfect vehicle of artistic expression +in chiaroscuro. In the mastery of the art of light and shade he is +supreme. His entire artistic career was devoted to this great problem, +and we can trace his success through all the great pictures from the +Presentation to the Syndics. + +Rembrandt apparently cared very little for the nude, for the delicate +curves of the body and the exquisite colors of flesh. Yet to +overbalance this disregard of beautiful form was his strong +predilection for finery. None ever loved better the play of light upon +jewels and satin and armor, the rich effectiveness of Oriental stuffs +and ecclesiastical vestments. Unable to gratify this taste in the +portraits which he painted to order, he took every opportunity to +paint both himself and his wife, Saskia, in costume. Wherever the +subject admitted, he introduced what he could of rich detail. In the +picture of Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph, Asenath, as the wife of +an Egyptian official, is appropriately adorned with jewels and finery. +In the Sortie of the Civic Guard, Captain Cocq is resplendent in his +military regalia. + +With all this fondness for pretty things, Rembrandt never allowed his +fancy to carry him beyond the limits of fitness in sacred art. The +Venetian masters had represented the most solemn scenes of the New +Testament with a pomp and magnificence entirely at variance with their +meaning. Rembrandt understood better the real significance of +Christianity, and made no such mistake. His Supper at Emmaus is the +simple evening meal of three peasant pilgrims precisely as it is +represented in the Gospel. His Christ Preaching includes a motley +company of humble folk, such as the great Teacher loved to gather +about him. + +It was perhaps the obverse side of his fondness for finery, that Rembrandt +had a strong leaning towards the picturesqueness of rags. A very +interesting class of his etchings is devoted to genre studies and beggars. +Here his disregard of the beautiful in the passion for expression reached +an extreme. His subjects are often grotesque--sometimes repulsive--but +always intensely human. Reading human character with rare sympathy, he was +profoundly touched by the poetry and the pathos of these miserable lives. +Through all these studies runs a quaint vein of humor, relieving the +pathos of the situations. The picturesque costume of the old Rat Killer +tickles the sense of humor, and conveys somehow a delightful suggestion of +his humbuggery which offsets the touching squalor of the grotesque little +apprentice. And none but a humorist could have created the swaggering +hostler's boy holding the Good Samaritan's horse. + +As a revealer of character, Rembrandt reaches the climax of his power +in his portraits. From this class of his pictures alone one can +repeople Holland with the spirits of the seventeenth century. All +classes and conditions and all ages came within the range of his magic +brush and burin. The fresh girlhood of Saskia, the sturdy manhood of +the Syndics, and the storied old age of his favorite old woman model +show the scope of his power, and in Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph +he shows the whole range in a single composition. He is manifestly at +his best when his sitter has pronounced features and wrinkled skin, a +face full of character, which he understood so well how to depict. +Obstacles stimulated him to his highest endeavor. Given the prosaic +and hackneyed motif of the Syndics' composition, he rose to the +highest point of artistic expression in a portrait group, in which a +grand simplicity of technical style is united with a profound and +intimate knowledge of human nature. + + +II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + +The history of modern Rembrandt bibliography properly begins with the +famous work by C. Vosmaer, "Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, sa Vie et ses +OEuvres." Vosmaer profited by the researches of Kolloff and Burger +to bring out a book which opened a new era in the appreciation of the +great Dutch master. It was first issued in 1868, and was republished +in 1877 in an enlarged edition. This book was practically alone in the +field until the recent work of Emile Michel appeared. In the English +translation (by Florence Simmonds) edited by Walter Armstrong, +Michel's "Rembrandt" is at the present moment our standard authority +on the subject. It is in two large illustrated volumes full of +historical information and criticism and containing a complete +classified list of Rembrandt's works--paintings, drawings, and +etchings. + +The "Complete Work of Rembrandt," by Wilhelm Bode, is now issuing from +the press (1899), and will consist of eight volumes containing +reproductions of all the master's pictures, with historical and +descriptive text. It is to be hoped that this mammoth and costly work +will be put into many large reference libraries, where students may +consult it to see Rembrandt's work in its entirety. + +The series of small German monographs edited by H. Knackfuss and now +translated into English has one number devoted to Rembrandt, +containing nearly one hundred and sixty reproductions from his works, +with descriptive text. Kugler's "Handbook of the German, Flemish, and +Dutch Schools," revised by J. A. Crowe, includes a brief account of +Rembrandt's life and work, which may be taken as valuable and +trustworthy. For a critical estimate of the character of Rembrandt's +art, its strength and weaknesses, and its peculiarities, nothing can +be more interesting than what Eugene Fromentin, French painter and +critic, has written in his "Old Masters of Belgium and Holland." + +Rembrandt's etchings have been the exclusive subject of many books. +There are voluminous descriptive catalogues by Bartsch ("Le Peintre +Graveur") Claussin, Wilson, Charles Blanc, Middleton, and Dutuit. A +short monograph on "The Etchings of Rembrandt," by Philip Gilbert +Hamerton (London, 1896), reviews the most famous prints in a very +pleasant way. + +There are valuable prints from the original plates of Rembrandt in the +Harvey D. Parker collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in +the Gray collection of the Fogg Museum at Cambridge, Massachusetts. +Those who are not fortunate enough to have access to original prints +will derive much satisfaction from the complete set of reproductions +published in St. Petersburg (1890) with catalogue by Rovinski, and +from the excellent reproductions of Amand Durand, Paris. + +To come in touch with the spirit of the times and of the country of +Rembrandt, the reader is referred to Motley's "Rise of the Dutch +Republic," condensed and continued by W. E. Griffis. + + +III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION + +_Portrait Frontispiece_. National Gallery, London. Signed and dated +1640. + +1. _Jacob Wrestling with the Angel_. Berlin Gallery. Signed and dated +1659. Figures life size. Size: 4 ft. 5-1/16 in. by 3 ft. 9-5/8 in. + +2. _Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph_. Cassel Gallery. Signed and +dated 1656. Figures life size. Size: 5 ft. 8-9/16 in. by 6 ft. 6-3/4 +in. + +3. _The Angel Raphael Leaving the Family of Tobit_. Louvre, Paris. +Signed and dated 1637. Size: 2 ft. 2-13/16 in. by 1 ft. 8-1/2 in. + +4. _The Rat Killer_. Etching. Signed and dated 1632. Size: 5-1/2 in. +by 4-9/16 in. + +5. _The Philosopher in Meditation_. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated +1633. Size: 11-7/16 in. by 13 in. + +6. _The Good Samaritan_. Etching. Signed and dated 1633. Size: 10-1/5 +in. by 8-3/5 in. + +7. _The Presentation in the Temple_. At the Hague. Signed and dated +1631. Size: 2 ft. 4-11/16 in. by 1 ft. 6-7/8 in. + +8. _Christ Preaching_. Etching. Date assigned by Michel, about 1652. +Size: 6-1/5 in. by 8-1/5 in. + +9. _Christ at Emmaus_. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated 1648. Size: 2 +ft. 2-13/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-5/8 in. + +10. _Portrait of Saskia_. Cassel Gallery. Painted about 1632-1634. +Life size. Size: 3 ft. 2-11/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-3/5 in. + +11. _Sortie of the Civic Guard_. Ryks Museum (Trippenhuis), Amsterdam. +Signed and dated 1642. Life size figures. Size: 11 ft. 9-3/8 in. by 14 +ft. 3-5/16 in. + +12. _Portrait of Jan Six_. Etching. Signed and dated 1647. Size: about +9-3/8 in. by 7-3/8 in. + +13. _Portrait of an Old Woman_. Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg. +Signed and dated 1654. Size: 3 ft. 6-7/8 in. by 2 ft. 9 in. + +14. _The Syndics of the Cloth Guild_. Ryks Museum (Trippenhuis), +Amsterdam. Signed and dated 1661. Life size figures. Size: 6 ft. 7/8 +in. by 8 ft. 11-15/16 in. + +15. _The Three Trees_. Etching, 1643. Size: 8-2/5 in. by 11 in. + + +IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REMBRANDT'S LIFE + +1606.[1] Rembrandt born in Leyden. + +1621. Rembrandt apprenticed to the painter, Jacob van Swanenburch. + +1624. Rembrandt studied six months with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. + +1627. Rembrandt's earliest known works, St. Paul in Prison, (Stuttgart +Museum); The Money Changers (Berlin Gallery). + +1631. Rembrandt removed to Amsterdam. + +1631. The Presentation painted. + +1632. The Anatomy Lecture painted. + +1633. The portrait of the Shipbuilder and his Wife painted. + +1634. Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenborch, June 22, in Bildt. + +1635. Rembrandt's son Rombertus baptized December 15. (Died in +infancy.) + +1637. Angel Raphael Leaving Family of Tobit painted. + +1638. Rembrandt's daughter Cornelia born. (Died in early childhood.) + +1639. Rembrandt bought a house in the Joden Breestraat. + +1640. Rembrandt's second daughter born and died. + +1640. Rembrandt's mother died. + +1640. The Carpenter's Household painted. + +1641. Manoah's Prayer painted. + +1641. Rembrandt's son Titus baptized. + +1642. Sortie of the Civic Guard (The Night Watch) painted for the hall +of the Amsterdam Musketeers. + +[Footnote 1: Authorities are not entirely unanimous as to the date of +Rembrandt's birth.] + +1642. Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, died. + +1648. Christ at Emmaus painted. + +1649. The Hundred Guilder print etched. + +1651. Christ Appearing to Magdalen painted. + +1652. Christ Preaching etched. + +1656. Rembrandt's bankruptcy. + +1656. Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph painted. + +1661. Portrait of the Syndics painted for the Guild of Drapers, +Amsterdam. + +1668. Rembrandt's son Titus died. + +1669. Rembrandt died. + + +V. SOME OF REMBRANDT'S FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES IN HOLLAND + +Frederick Henry of Orange, stadtholder, 1625. Princess Amalia of +Solms, wife of Frederick Henry, built the Huis ten Bosch (House in the +Woods) at the Hague, 1647. + +William II of Orange, stadtholder, 1647. In 1650 the stadt-holderate +was suppressed, and John de Witt became in 1653 chief executive of the +republic for twenty years. Murdered in 1672. + +John of Barneveld, Grand Pensioner, "the greatest statesman in all the +history of the Netherlands" (Griffis). Executed May 24, 1619. + +Michael de Ruyter, "the Dutch Nelson," died 1676. + +Marten Harpertzoon von Tromp, admiral. Born 1597; died 1691. (He +defeated the English fleet under Blake.) + +Cornelius Evertsen, admiral. + +Floriszoon, admiral. + +Witte de With, admiral. + +Hendrik Hudson, navigator and discoverer; first voyage, 1607, last +voyage, 1610. + +Captain Zeachen, discoverer. + +Hugo Grotius, father of international law, 1583-1645. + +Jan Six, burgomaster, bibliophile, art connoisseur, and dramatist, +1618-1700. + +Spinoza, philosopher, 1622-1677. + +Joost van den Vondel, poet and dramatist, 1587-1679. + +Jacob Cats, Grand Pensionary and poet, 1577-1660. + +Constantine Huyghens, poet. + +Gysbart Voet (Latin, Voetius) 1588-1678, professor of theology at +Utrecht. + +Cornelis Jansen, born 1585. Professor of scripture interpretation at +Louvain. + +Johannes Koch (Latin, Coccejus), 1603-1669, professor of theology at +Leyden and, "after Erasmus, the father of modern Biblical criticism." + +J. van Kampen, architect, built the Het Palais (Royal Palace) in +Amsterdam, 1648. + +Jansz Vinckenbrink, sculptor. + +Hendrik de Keyser, sculptor. + +Crabeth brothers, designers of stained glass. + +Painters:-- + +Franz Hals, 1584-1666. + +Gerard Honthorst, 1590-1656. + +Albert Cuyp, 1605-1691. + +Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656. + +Jacob Ruysdael, 1625-1682. + +Paul Potter, 1625-1654. + +Jan Lievens, born 1607; died after 1672. + +Salomon Koning, 1609-1668. + +Gerard Terburg, 1608-1681. + +Nicolas Berghem, 1620-1683. + +Jan Steen, 1626-1679. + +Adrian van Ostade, 1610-1685. + +Rembrandt's pupils:-- + +Ferdinand Bol, 1616-1680. + +Govert Flinck, 1615-1660. + +Van den Eeckhont, 1620-1674. + +Gerard Don, 1613-1680. + +Nicolas Maes, 1632-1693. + +Juriaen Ovens, 1623. + +Hendrick Heerschop, born 1620, entered Rembrandt's studio, 1644. + +Carl Fabritius, 1624-1654. + +Samuel van Hoogstraaten, born 1627, with Rembrandt, 1640-1650. + +Aert de Gelder, 1645-1727. + +Less important names: Jan van Glabbeck, Jacobus Levecq, Heyman +Dullaert, Johan Hendricksen, Adriaen Verdael, Cornelis Drost. + + +VI. FOREIGN CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS + +Flemish:-- + +Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640. + +Anthony Van Dyck, 1599-1641. + +Jacob Jordaens, 1594-1678. + +Franz Snyders, 1574-1657. + +Gaspard de Craeyer, 1582-1669. + +David Teniers, 1610-1690. + +Spanish:-- + +Velasquez, 1599-1660. + +Pacheco, 1571-1654. + +Cano, 1601-1676. + +Herrera, 1576-1656. + +Zurbaran, 1598-1662. + +Murillo, 1618-1682. + +French:-- + +Simon Vouet, 1582-1641. + +Charles Le Brun, 1619-1690. + +Eustache Le Sueur, 1617-1655. + +Italian:-- + +Carlo Dolci, 1616-1686. + +Guido Reni, 1575-1642. + +Domenichino, 1581-1641. + +Francesco Albani, 1578-1660. + +Guercino, 1591-1666. + +Sassoferrato, 1605-1685. + + + + +I + +JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL + + +The history of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob reads like a romance. +He was the younger of the two sons of Isaac, and was at a great +disadvantage on this account. Among his people the eldest son always +became the family heir and also received the choicest blessing from +the father, a privilege coveted as much as wealth. In this case +therefore the privileged son was Jacob's brother Esau. Jacob resented +keenly the inequality of his lot; and his mother sympathized with him, +as he was her favorite. A feeling of enmity grew up between the +brothers, and in the end Jacob did Esau a great wrong. + +One day Esau came in from hunting, nearly starved, and finding his +younger brother cooking some lentils, begged a portion of it for +himself. Jacob seized the chance to make a sharp bargain. He offered +his brother the food--which is called in the quaint Bible language a +"mess of pottage"--making him promise in return that he would let +their father give his blessing to the younger instead of the older +son. Esau was a careless fellow, too hungry to think what he was +saying, and so readily yielded. + +But though Esau might sell his birthright in this fashion, the father +would not have been willing to give the blessing to the younger son, +had it not been for a trick planned by the mother. The old man was +nearly blind, and knew his sons apart by the touch of their skin, as +Esau had a rough, hairy skin and Jacob a smooth one. The mother put +skins of kids upon Jacob's hands and neck and bade him go to his +father pretending to be Esau, and seek his blessing. The trick was +successful, and when a little later Esau himself came to his father on +the same errand, he found that he had been superseded. Naturally he +was very angry, and vowed vengeance on his brother. Jacob, fearing for +his life, fled into a place called Padanaram. + +In this place he became a prosperous cattle farmer and grew very rich. +He married there also and had a large family of children. After +fourteen years he bethought himself of his brother Esau and the great +wrong he had done him. He resolved to remove his family to his old +home, and to be reconciled with his brother. Hardly daring to expect +to be favorably received, he sent in advance a large number of cattle +in three droves as a gift to Esau. Then he awaited over night some +news or message from his brother. In the night a strange adventure +befell him. This is the way the story is told in the book of +Genesis.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Genesis, chapter xxxii. verses 24-31.] + +[Illustration: JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL +_Berlin Gallery_] + +"There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when +he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of +his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he +wrestled with him. And he said, 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' And +he said, 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,' And he said +unto him, 'What is thy name?' And he said, 'Jacob,' And he said, 'Thy +name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast +thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.'... And he +blessed him there. + +"And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God +face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel, +the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh;" that is, he +walked halt, or lame. + +The crisis in Jacob's life was passed, for hardly had he set forth on +this morning when he saw his brother whom he had wronged advancing +with four hundred men to meet him. "And Esau ran to meet him, and +embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him: and they wept." + +So were the brothers reconciled. + +The picture represents Jacob wrestling with his mysterious adversary. +We have seen from his history how determined he was to have his own +way, and how he wrested worldly prosperity even from misfortunes. Now +he is equally determined in this higher and more spiritual conflict. +It is a very real struggle, and Jacob has prevailed only by putting +forth his utmost energy. It is the moment when the grand angel, +pressing one knee into the hollow of Jacob's left thigh and laying +his hand on his right side, looks into his face and grants the +blessing demanded as a condition for release. Strong and tender is his +gaze, and the gift he bestows is a new name, in token of the new +character of brotherly love of which this victory is the beginning. + +The story of St. Michael and the Dragon, which Raphael has painted, +stands for the everlasting conflict between good and evil in the +world. There is a like meaning in the story of Jacob's wrestling with +the angel. The struggle is in the human heart between selfish impulses +and higher ideals. The day when one can hold on to the good angel long +enough to win a blessing, is the day which begins a new chapter in a +man's life. + + + + +II + +ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH + + +When Jacob wrestled with the angel he received a new name, Israel, or +a prince, a champion of God. + +Israel became the founder of the great Israelite nation, and from his +twelve sons grew up the twelve tribes of Israel, among whom was +distributed the country now called Palestine. Among these sons the +father's favorite was Joseph, who was next to the youngest. This +favoritism aroused the anger and jealousy of the older brothers, and +they plotted to get rid of him. One day when they were all out with +some flocks in a field quite distant from their home, they thought +they were rid forever of the hated Joseph by selling him to a company +of men who were journeying to Egypt. Then they dipped the lad's coat +in goat's blood and carried it to Israel, who, supposing his son to +have been devoured by a wild beast, mourned him as dead. + +When Joseph had grown to manhood in Egypt, a singular chain of +circumstances brought the brothers together again. There was a sore +famine, and Egypt was the headquarters for the sale of corn. Joseph +had shown himself so able and trustworthy that he was given charge of +selling and distributing the stores of food. So when Israel's older +sons came from their home to Egypt to buy corn they had to apply to +Joseph, whom they little suspected of being the brother they had so +cruelly wronged. There is a pretty story, too long to repeat here, of +how Joseph disclosed himself to his astonished brethren, and forgave +them their cruelty, how he sent for his father to come to Egypt to +live near him, how there was a joyful reunion, and how "they all lived +happily ever after." + +When the time drew near for Israel to die, he desired to bestow his +last blessing on his sons. And first of all his beloved son Joseph +brought him his own two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh. + +Now according to the traditions of the patriarchs, it was the eldest +son who should receive the choicest blessing from his father. Israel, +however, had found among his own sons that it was a younger one, +Joseph, who had proved himself the most worthy of love. This may have +shaken his faith in the wisdom of the old custom. Perhaps, too, he +remembered how his own boyhood had been made unhappy because he was +the younger son, and how he had on that account been tempted to +deceit. + +Whatever the reason, he surprised Joseph at the last moment by showing +a preference for the younger of the two grandsons, Ephraim, expressing +this preference by laying the right hand, instead of the left, on his +head. The blessing was spoken in these solemn words: "God, before whom +my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my +life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, +bless the lads." + +[Illustration: ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH +_Cassel Gallery_] + +The narrative relates[3] that "When Joseph saw that his father laid +his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he +held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto +Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, 'Not so, my father: +for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.' And his +father refused, and said, 'I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall +become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger +brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a +multitude of nations.' And he blessed them that day, saying, 'In thee +shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim, and as +Manasseh;' and he set Ephraim before Manasseh." + +[Footnote 3: Genesis, chapter xlviii. verses 17-20.] + +As we compare the picture with the story, it is easy to identify the +figures. We are naturally interested in Joseph as the hero of so many +romantic adventures. As a high Egyptian official, he makes a dignified +appearance and wears a rich turban. His face is gentle and amiable, as +we should expect of a loving son and forgiving brother. + +In the old man we see the same Jacob who wrestled by night with the +Angel and was redeemed from his life of selfishness. The same strong +face is here, softened by sorrow and made tender by love. The years +have cut deep lines of character in the forehead, and the flowing +beard has become snowy white. + +The dying patriarch has "strengthened himself," to sit up on the bed +for his last duty, and his son Joseph supports him. The children kneel +together by the bedside, the little Ephraim bending his fair head +humbly to receive his grandfather's right hand, Manasseh looking up +alertly, almost resentfully, as he sees that hand passing over his own +head to his brother's. Joseph's wife Asenath, the children's mother, +stands beyond, looking on musingly. We see that it is a moment of very +solemn interest to all concerned. Though the patriarch's eyes are dim +and his hand trembles, his old determined spirit makes itself +manifest. Joseph is in perplexity between his filial respect and his +solicitude for his first-born. He puts his fingers gently under his +father's wrist, trying to lift the hand to the other head. The mother +seems to smile as if well content. Perhaps she shares the +grandfather's preference for little Ephraim. + +The picture is a study in the three ages of man, childhood, manhood, +and old age, brought together by the most tender and sacred ties of +human life, in the circle of the family. + + + + +III + +THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT + + +The story of Tobit is found in what is called the Apocrypha, that is, +a collection of books written very much in the manner of the Bible, +and formerly bound in Bibles between the Old and the New Testament. + +The story goes that when Enemessar, King of Assyria, conquered the +people of Israel, he led away many of them captive into Assyria, among +them the family of Tobit, his wife Anna, and their son Tobias. They +settled in Nineveh, and Tobit, being an honest man, was made purveyor +to the king. That is, it was his business to provide food for the +king's household. + +In this office he was able to lay up a good deal of money, which he +placed for safe keeping in the hands of Gabael, an Israelite who lived +at Rages in Media. Tobit was a generous man, and he did many kind +deeds for his less fortunate fellow exiles; he delighted in feeding +the hungry and clothing the naked. + +When Sennacherib was king of Assyria, many Jews were slain and left +lying in the street, and Tobit, finding their neglected bodies, buried +them secretly. One night, after some such deed of mercy, a sad +affliction befell him. White films came over his eyes, causing total +blindness. In his distress he prayed that he might die, and began to +make preparations for death. He called his son Tobias to him and gave +him much good advice as to his manner of life, and then desired him to +go to Rages to obtain the money left there with Gabael. But Tobias +must first seek a guide for the journey. "Therefore," says the story, +"when he went to seek a man, he found Raphael that was an angel. But +he knew not; and he said unto him, 'Canst thou go with me to Rages? +and knowest thou those places well?' To whom the angel said, 'I will +go with thee, and I know the way well: for I have lodged with our +brother Gabael,'" The angel gave himself the name Azarias. "So they +went forth both, and the young man's dog with them." + +"As they went on their journey, they came in the evening to the river +Tigris, and they lodged there. And when the young man went down to +wash himself, a fish leaped out of the river, and would have devoured +him. Then the angel said unto him, 'Take the fish,' And the young man +laid hold of the fish, and drew it to land. To whom the angel said, +'Open the fish and take the gall, and put it up safely.' So the young +man did as the angel commanded him, and when they had roasted the +fish, they did eat it: then they both went on their way, till they +drew near to Ecbatane. Then the young man said to the angel, 'Brother +Azarias, to what use is the gall of the fish?' And he said unto him, +'It is good to anoint a man that hath whiteness in his eyes, and he +shall be healed.'" + +[Illustration: THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +After this curious incident there were no further adventures till they +came to Ecbatane. Here they lodged with Raguel, a kinsman of Tobit, +and when Tobias saw Sara, the daughter, he loved her and determined to +make her his wife. He therefore tarried fourteen days at Ecbatane, +sending Azarias on to Rages for the money. This delay lengthened the +time allotted for the journey, but at last the company drew near to +Nineveh,--Azarias or Raphael, and Tobias, with the bride, the +treasure, and the precious fishgall. Raphael then gave Tobias +directions to use the gall for his father's eyes. Their arrival was +the cause of great excitement. "Anna ran forth, and fell upon the neck +of her son. Tobit also went forth toward the door, and stumbled: but +his son ran unto him, and took hold of his father: and he strake of +the gall on his father's eyes, saying, 'Be of good hope, my father.' +And when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them; and the whiteness +pilled away from the corners of his eyes: and when he saw his son, he +fell upon his neck." + +Now Tobit and Tobias were full of gratitude to Azarias for all that he +had done for them, and, consulting together as to how they could +reward him, decided to give him half the treasure. So the old man +called the angel, and said, "Take half of all that ye have brought, +and go away in safety." Then Raphael took them both apart, and said +unto them, "Bless God, praise him, and magnify him, and praise him +for the things which he hath done unto you in the sight of all that +live." + +With this solemn introduction the angel goes on to tell Tobit that he +had been with him when he had buried his dead countrymen, and that his +good deeds were not hid from him, and that his prayers were +remembered. He concludes by showing who he really is. + +"I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers +of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy +One." + +"Then they were both troubled, and fell upon their faces: for they +feared God. But he said unto them, 'Fear not, for it shall go well +with you; praise God therefore. For not of any favor of mine, but by +the will of our God I came; wherefore praise him for ever. All these +days I did appear unto you; but I did neither eat nor drink, but ye +did see a vision. Now therefore give God thanks: for I go up to him +that sent me.'" "And when they arose, they saw him no more." + +The picture shows us the moment when the angel suddenly rises from the +midst of the little company and strikes out on his flight through the +air like a strong swimmer. Tobit and Tobias fall on their knees +without, while Anna and the bride Sara stand in the open door with the +frightened little dog cowering beside them. The older people are +overcome with wonder and awe, but Tobias and Sara, more bold, follow +the radiant vision with rapturous gaze. + + + + +IV + +THE RAT KILLER + + +The pictures we have examined thus far in this collection have been +reproductions from Rembrandt's paintings. You will see at once that +the picture of the Rat Killer is of another kind. The figures and +objects are indicated by lines instead of by masses of color. You +would call it a drawing, and it is in fact a drawing of one kind, but +properly speaking, an etching. An etching is a drawing made on copper +by means of a needle. The etcher first covers the surface of the metal +with a layer of some waxy substance and draws his picture through this +coating, or "etching ground," as it is called. Next he immerses the +copper plate in an acid bath which "bites," or grooves, the metal +along the lines he has drawn without affecting the parts protected by +the etching ground. + +The plate thus has a picture cut into its surface, and impressions of +this picture may be taken by filling the lines with ink and pressing +wet paper to the surface of the plate. You will notice that the +difference between the work of an engraver and that of an etcher is +that the former cuts the lines in his plate with engraving tools, +while the latter only draws his picture on the plate and the acid cuts +the lines. The word etching is derived from the Dutch _etzen_, and +the most famous etchers in the world have been among Dutch and German +artists. + +Rembrandt is easily first of these, and we should have but a limited +idea of his work if we did not examine some of his pictures of this +kind. Impressions made directly from the original plates, over two +centuries ago, are, of course, very rare and valuable, and are +carefully preserved in the great libraries and museums of the world. +There is a collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where this +etching of the Rat Killer may be seen. + +The Rat Killer is one of many subjects from the scenes of common life +which surrounded the artist. In smaller towns and villages, then as +well as now, there were no large shops where goods were to be bought. +Instead, all sorts of peddlers and traveling mechanics went from house +to house--the knife grinder, the ragman, the fiddler, and many others. +This picture of the Rat Killer suggests a very odd occupation. The +pest of rats is, of course, much greater in old than in new countries. +In Europe, and perhaps particularly in the northern countries of +Holland and Germany, the old towns and villages have long been +infested with these troublesome creatures. + +[Illustration: THE RAT KILLER +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +There are some curious legends about them. One relates how a certain +Bishop Hatto, as a judgment for his sins, was attacked by an army of +rats which swam across the Rhine and invaded him in his island tower, +where they made short work of their victim.[4] Another tells how a +town called Hamelin was overrun with rats until a magic piper appeared +who so charmed them with his enchanted music that they gathered about +him and followed his leading till they came to the river and were +drowned.[5] + +[Footnote 4: See Southey's poem, Bishop Hatto.] + +[Footnote 5: See Browning's poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin.] + +The old Rat Killer in the picture looks suspiciously like a magician. +It seems as if he must have bewitched the rats which crawl friskily +about him, one perching on his shoulders. He reminds one of some ogre +out of a fairy tale, with his strange tall cap, his kilted coat, and +baggy trousers, the money pouch at his belt, the fur mantle flung over +one shoulder, and the fierce-looking sword dangling at his side. But +there is no magic in his way of killing rats. He has some rat poison +to sell which his apprentice, a miserable little creature, carries in +a large box. + +The picture gives us an idea of an old Dutch village street. The +cottages are built very low, with steep overhanging roofs. The walls +are of thick masonry, for these were days when in small villages and +outlying districts "every man's house was his castle," that is, every +man's house was intended, first of all, as a place of defense against +outlawry. + +The entrance doors were made in two sections, an upper and a lower +part, or wing, each swinging on its own hinges. Whenever a knock came, +the householder could open the upper wing and address the caller as +through a window, first learning who he was and what his errand, +before opening the lower part to admit him. Thus an unwelcome intruder +could not press his way into the house by the door's being opened at +his knock, and the family need not be taken unawares. In many of our +modern houses we see doors made after the same plan, and known as +"Dutch doors." + +The cautious old man in the picture has no intention of being imposed +upon by wandering fakirs. He has opened only the upper door and leans +on the lower wing, as on a gate, while he listens to the Rat Killer's +story. The latter must have a marvellous tale to tell of the effects +of the poison, from the collection of dead rats which he carries as +trophies in the basket fastened to the long pole in his hand. But the +householder impatiently pushes his hand back, and turns away as if +with disgust. The apprentice, grotesque little rat himself, looks up +rather awestruck at this grand, turbaned figure above him. + + + + +V + +THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION + + +Ever since the beginning of human history there have been people who +puzzled their brains about the reasons of things. Why things are as +they are, whence we came, and whither we are going are some of the +perplexing questions they have tried to answer. Some men have given +all their lives to the study of these problems as a single occupation +or profession. Among the ancient Greeks, who were a very intellectual +nation, such men were quite numerous and were held in great esteem as +teachers. They were called philosophers, that is, lovers of wisdom, +and this word has been passed down to our own times in various modern +languages. + +In the passing of the centuries men found more and more subjects to +think about. Some studied the movements of the stars and tried to +discover if they had any influence in human affairs. These men were +called astrologers, and they drew plans, known as horoscopes, mapping +out the future destiny of persons as revealed by the position of the +constellations. There were other men who examined the various +substances of which the earth is composed, putting them together to +make new things. These were alchemists, and their great ambition was +to find some preparation which would change baser metals into gold. +This hoped-for preparation was spoken of as the "philosopher's stone." + +Now modern learning has changed these vague experiments into exact +science; astronomy has replaced astrology, and chemistry has taken the +place of alchemy. Nevertheless these changes were brought about only +very gradually, and in the 17th century, when Rembrandt lived and +painted this picture, a great stir was made by the new ideas of +astronomy taught by Galileo in Italy, and the new discoveries in +chemistry made by Van Helmont in Belgium. Many philosophers still held +to the old beliefs of astrology and alchemy. + +It is not likely that Rembrandt had any one philosopher in mind as the +subject of his picture. That his philosopher is something of a +scholar, we judge from the table at which he sits, littered with +writing materials. Yet he seems to care less for reading than for +thinking, as he sits with hands clasped in his lap and his head sunk +upon his breast. He wears a loose, flowing garment like a +dressing-gown, and his bald head is protected by a small skull cap. +His is an ideal place for a philosopher's musings. The walls are so +thick that they shut out all the confusing noise of the world. A +single window lets in light enough to read by through its many tiny +panes. It is a bare little room, to be sure, with its ungarnished +walls and stone-paved floor, but if a philosopher has the ordinary +needs of life supplied he wants no luxuries. He asks for nothing +more than quiet and uninterrupted leisure in which to pursue his +meditations. + +[Illustration: THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +Our philosopher is well taken care of; for while his thoughts are on +higher things and eternal truths, an old woman is busy at the fire in +the corner. Evidently she looks after the material and temporal things +of life. She kneels on the hearth and hangs a kettle over the cheerful +blaze. The firelight glows on her face and gleams here and there on +the brasses hanging in the chimney-piece above. Here is promise of +something good to come, and when the philosopher is roused from his +musings there will be a hot supper ready for him. + +There are two mysteries in the room which arouse our curiosity. In the +wall behind the philosopher's chair is a low, arched door heavily +built with large hinges. Does this lead to some subterranean cavern, +and what secret does it contain? Is it a laboratory where, with +alembic and crucible, the philosopher searches the secrets of alchemy +and tries to find the "philosopher's stone?" Is some hid treasure +stored up there, as precious and as hard to reach as the hidden truths +the philosopher tries to discover? + +At the right side of the room a broad, winding staircase rises in +large spirals and disappears in the gloom above. We follow it with +wondering eyes which try to pierce the darkness and see whither it +leads. Perhaps there is an upper chamber with windows open to the sky +whence the philosopher studies the stars. This place with its winding +staircase would be just such an observatory as an astrologer would +like. Indeed it suggests at once the tower on the hillside near +Florence where Galileo passed his declining years. + +Our philosopher, too, is an old man; his hair has been whitened by +many winters, his face traced over with many lines of thought. Even if +his problems have not all been solved he has found rich satisfaction +in his thinking; the end of his meditations is peace. The day is +drawing to a close. The waning light falls through the window and +illumines the philosopher's venerable face. It throws the upper spiral +of the stairway into bold relief, and brings out all the beautiful +curves in its structure. The bare little room is transfigured. This is +indeed a fit dwelling-place for a philosopher whose thoughts, +penetrating dark mysteries, are at last lighted by some gleams of the +ideal. + + + + +VI + +THE GOOD SAMARITAN + + +The story of the Good Samaritan was related by Jesus to a certain +lawyer as a parable, that is, a story to teach a moral lesson. The +object was to show what was true neighborly conduct; and this was the +story:--[6] + +"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among +thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and +departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a +certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the +other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and +looked on him, and passed by on the other side. + +"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when +he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up +his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and +brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he +departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said +unto him, 'Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I +come again I will repay thee.'" + +[Footnote 6: St. Luke, chapter x. verses 30-37.] + +The point of the story is very plain, and when Jesus asked the lawyer +which one of the three passers-by was a neighbor to the wounded man, +he was forced to reply, "He that shewed mercy." Then said Jesus +simply, "Go, and do thou likewise." + +Though the scene of the story is laid in Palestine, it is the sort of +incident which one can imagine taking place in any country or period +of time. So it seems perfectly proper that Rembrandt, in representing +the subject, should show us an old Dutch scene. The etching +illustrates that moment when the Good Samaritan arrives at the inn, +followed by the wounded traveler mounted on his horse. + +The building is a quaint piece of architecture with arched doors and +windows. That it was built with an eye to possible attacks from +thieves and outlaws, we may see from the small windows and thick walls +of masonry, which make it look like a miniature fortress. This is a +lonely spot, and inns are few and far between. The plaster is cracking +and crumbling from the surface, and the whole appearance of the place +does not betoken great thrift on the part of the owners. On the +present occasion, during the working hours of the day, doors and +windows are open after the hospitable manner of an inn. + +The host stands in the doorway, greeting the strangers, and the Good +Samaritan is explaining the situation to him. In the mean time the inn +servants have come forward: the hostler's boy holds the horse by the +bridle, while a man lifts off the wounded traveler. + +[Illustration: THE GOOD SAMARITAN +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +About the dooryard are the usual signs of life. In the rear a woman +draws water from a well, lowering the bucket from the end of a long +well-sweep, heedless of the stir about the door. Fowl scratch about in +search of food, and there is a dog at one side. Some one within looks +with idle curiosity from the window into the yard. It is little +touches like these which give the scene such vividness and reality. + +There is also a remarkable expressiveness in the figures which tells +the story at a glance. You can see just what the Good Samaritan is +saying, as he gestures with his left hand, and you can guess the +inn-keeper's reply. Already he has put the proffered money into the +wallet he carries at his belt, and listens attentively to the orders +given him. He may privately wonder at his guest's singular kindness to +a stranger, but with him business is business, and his place is to +carry out his guest's wishes. + +You see how the hostler's boy magnifies his office, swaggering with +legs wide apart. Even the feather in his cap bristles with importance. +This bit of comedy contrasts with the almost tragic expression of the +wounded man. The stolid fellow who lifts him seems to hurt him very +much, and he clasps his hands in an agony of pain. He seems to be +telling the gentleman at the window of his recent misfortune. + +To study the picture more critically, it will be interesting to notice +how the important figures are massed together in the centre, and how +the composition is built into a pyramid. Draw a line from the +inn-keeper's head down the stairway at the left, and follow the +outline of the Good Samaritan's right shoulder along the body of the +wounded traveler, and you have the figure. This pyramidal form is +emphasized again by the wainscot of the stairway at the left, and the +well-sweep at the right. + +To appreciate fully the character of the etching, one must examine +attentively all the different kinds of lines which produce the varying +effects of light and shadow. Below the picture Rembrandt wrote his +name and the date 1633, with two Latin words meaning that he designed +and etched the plate himself. This would seem to show that he was well +pleased with his work, and it is interesting to learn that the great +German poet, Goethe, admired the composition extravagantly. + + + + +VII + +THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE + + +The story which the picture of the Presentation illustrates is a story +of the infancy of Jesus Christ. According to the custom of the Jews at +that time, every male child was "presented," or dedicated, to the Lord +when about a month old. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda, a small +town about four miles from the city of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, +where the temple was. When he was about a month old, his mother Mary +and her husband Joseph, who were devout Jews, brought him to the great +city for the ceremony of the presentation in the temple. Now the +temple was a great place of worship where many religious ceremonies +were taking place all the time. + +Ordinarily, a party coming up from the country for some religious +observance would not attract any special attention among the +worshippers. But on the day when the infant Jesus was presented in the +temple, a very strange thing occurred. The evangelist St. Luke[7] +relates the circumstances. + +[Footnote 7: St. Luke, chapter ii. verses 25-35.] + +"And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and +the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of +Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him +by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death, before he had seen the +Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the +parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of +the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, +Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared +before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the +glory of thy people Israel. + +"And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken +of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold +this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and +for a sign which shall be spoken against; that the thought of many +hearts may be revealed." + +[Illustration: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE +_The Hague Gallery_] + +In the picture we find ourselves, as it were, among the worshippers in +the temple, looking at the group on the pavement in front of us--Mary +and Joseph and Simeon, kneeling before a priest, with two or three +onlookers. It is a Gothic cathedral, in whose dim recesses many people +move hither and thither. At the right is a long flight of steps +leading to a throne, which is overshadowed by a huge canopy. At the +top of the steps we see the high priest seated with hands +outstretched, receiving the people who throng up the stairway. It was +towards this stairway that Mary and Joseph were making their way, +when the aged Simeon first saw them, and recognized in the child +they carried the one he had long expected. Taking the babe from his +mother's arms, he kneels on the marble-tiled pavement and raises his +face to heaven in thanksgiving. His embroidered cymar, or robe, falls +about him in rich folds as he clasps his arms about the tiny swaddled +figure. + +Mary has dropped on her knees beside him, listening to his words with +happy wonder. Joseph, just beyond, looks on with an expression of +inquiry. He carries two turtle doves as the thank offering required of +the mother by the religious law. His unkempt appearance and bare feet +contrast with the neat dress of Mary. The tall priest standing before +them extends his hands towards the group in a gesture of benediction. +A broad ray of light gleams on his strange headdress, lights up his +outstretched hand, and falls with dazzling brilliancy upon the soft +round face of the babe, the smiling mother, and the venerable Simeon +with flowing white hair and beard. + +There are but few people to pay any heed to the strange incident. Two +or three of those who climb the stairway turn about and stare +curiously at the group below. There are three others still more +interested. One man behind puts his turbaned head over Simeon's +shoulders, peering inquisitively at the child, as if trying to see +what the old man finds so remarkable in him. Beyond, two old beggars +approach with a sort of good-natured interest. They are quaintly +dressed, one of them wearing a very tall cap. Such humble folk as +these alone seem to have time to notice others' affairs. + +It must not be supposed that this scene very closely represents the +actual event it illustrates. The painter Rembrandt knew nothing about +the architecture of the old Jewish temple destroyed many centuries +before. A Gothic cathedral was the finest house of worship known to +him, so he thought out the scene as it would look in such +surroundings. The people coming and going were such as he saw about +him daily; the beggars looking at the Christ-child were the beggars of +Amsterdam, and the men seated in the wooden settle at the right were +like the respectable Dutch burghers of his acquaintance. It was like +translating the story from Aramaic to Dutch, but in the process +nothing is lost of its original touching beauty. + +In studying the picture, you must notice how carefully all the figures +are painted, even the very small ones in the darkest parts of the +composition. The beautiful contrast, between the light on the central +group and the soft dimness of the remoter parts of the cathedral, +illustrates a style of work for which Rembrandt was very famous, and +which we shall often see in his pictures. + + + + +VIII + +CHRIST PREACHING + + +We read in the evangelists' record of the life of Jesus that he went +about the country preaching the gospel (or the good news) of the +kingdom of Heaven. Sometimes he preached in the synagogue on the +Sabbath day; but more often he talked to the people in the open air, +sometimes on the mountain-side, sometimes on the shore of the lake +Gennesaret, or again in the streets of their towns. + +The scribes and Pharisees were jealous of his popularity, and angry +because he exposed their hypocrisy. The proud and rich found many of +his sayings too hard to accept. So it was the poor and unhappy who +were most eager to hear him, and they often formed a large part of his +audience. Jesus himself rejoiced in this class of followers, and when +John the Baptist's messengers came to him to inquire into his mission, +he sent back the message, "The poor have the gospel preached to them." + +In this picture of Christ Preaching, we see that his hearers are of +just the kind that the preacher's message is intended for,--the weary +and heavy-laden whom he called to himself. There are a few dignitaries +in the gathering, it is true, standing pompously by in the hope of +finding something to criticise. But Jesus pays no attention to them +as he looks down into the faces of the listeners who most need his +words. His pulpit is a square coping-stone in a courtyard, and the +people gather about him in a circle in the positions most convenient +to them. + +There is no formality here, no ceremony; each one may come and go as +he pleases. Here is a mother sitting on the ground directly in front +of the speaker, holding a babe in her arms, while a little fellow +sprawls out on the ground beside her, drawing on the sand with his +finger. Though we cannot see her face, we know that she is an absorbed +listener, and Jesus seems to speak directly to her. + +A pathetic-looking man beyond her is trying to take in the message in +a wondering way, and a long-bearded man behind him is so aroused that +he leans eagerly forward to catch every word. There are others, as is +always the case, who listen very stolidly as if quite indifferent. + +Again there are two who ponder the subject thoughtfully. One of these +is in the rear,--a young man, perhaps one of Jesus' disciples; the +other sits in front, crossing his legs, and supporting his chin with +his hand. In the group at the right of Jesus we can easily pick out +the scoffers and critics, listening intently, some of them more +interested, perhaps, than they had expected to be. + +[Illustration: CHRIST PREACHING +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +As we look at Jesus himself, so gentle and tender, raising both hands +as if to bless the company, we feel sure that he is speaking some +message of comfort. One day when he was reading the Scriptures in +the synagogue at Capernaum, he selected a passage which described his +own work, and which perfectly applies to this picture. We can imagine +that he is saying: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the +Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath +sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the +captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to +proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of +our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in +Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, +the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." + +It is a noticeable fact that the figures in this picture of Christ +preaching are Dutch types. If you think that this is a strange way to +illustrate scenes which took place in Palestine many centuries ago, +you must remember that the picture was drawn by a Dutchman who knew +nothing of Palestine, and indeed little of any country outside his own +Holland. He wished to make the life of Christ seem real and vivid to +his own countrymen; and the only way he could do this was to represent +the scenes in the surroundings most familiar to himself and to them. +The artist was simply trying to imagine what Jesus would do if he had +come to Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, instead of to Jerusalem +in the first century; somewhat as certain modern writers have tried to +think what would take place "If Jesus came to Chicago," or "If Jesus +came to Boston," in the nineteenth century. The sweet gentleness in +the face of Christ and the eager attention of the people show how well +Rembrandt understood the real meaning of the New Testament. + +This picture is worthy of very special study because it is reckoned by +critics one of the best of Rembrandt's etchings. One enthusiastic +writer[8] says that "the full maturity of his genius is expressed in +every feature." One must know a great deal about the technical +processes of etching to appreciate fully all these excellencies; but +even an inexperienced eye can see how few and simple are the lines +which produce such striking effects of light and shadow: a scratch or +two here, a few parallel lines drawn diagonally there; some coarse +cross-hatching in one place, closer hatching in another; now and then +a spot of the black ink itself,--and the whole scene is made alive, +with Jesus standing in the midst, the light gleaming full upon his +figure. + +[Footnote 8: Michel.] + + + + +IX + +CHRIST AT EMMAUS + + +The picture of Christ at Emmaus illustrates an event in the narrative +of Christ's life which took place on the evening of the first Easter +Sunday. It was now three days since the Crucifixion of Christ just +outside Jerusalem, and the terrible scene was still very fresh in the +minds of his disciples. It happened that late in the day two of them +were going to a village called Emmaus, not very far from Jerusalem. + +They made the journey on foot, and as they walked along the way, "they +talked together," says the evangelist[9] who tells the story, "of all +those things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they +communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with +them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he +said unto them, 'What manner of communications are these that ye have +one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?' And the one of them, whose +name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, 'Art thou only a stranger +in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass +there in these days?' And he said unto them, 'What things?' And they +said unto him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth.'" Then followed a +conversation in which they told the stranger something of Jesus, and +he in turn explained to them many things about the life and character +of Jesus which they had never understood. + +[Footnote 9: St. Luke, chapter xxiv. verses 13-32.] + +"And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made +as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, +saying, 'Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far +spent.' And he went in to tarry with them. + +"And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and +blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened +and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said +one to another, 'Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked +with us by the way?'" + +The picture suggests vividly to us that wonderful moment at Emmaus +when the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognized their +guest as Jesus, whom they had so recently seen crucified. The table is +laid in a great bare room with the commonest furnishings, and the +disciples appear to be laboring men, accustomed to "plain living and +high thinking." They are coarsely dressed, and their feet are bare, as +are also the feet of Jesus. One seems to have grasped the situation +more quickly than the other, for he folds his hands together, +reverently gazing directly into the face of Jesus. His companion, +an older man, at the other end of the table, looks up astonished and +mystified. The boy who is bringing food to the table is busy with his +task, and does not notice any change in Jesus. + +[Illustration: CHRIST AT EMMAUS +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +In the midst is Christ, "pale, emaciated, sitting facing us, breaking +the bread as on the evening of the Last Supper, in his pilgrim robe, +with his blackened lips, on which the torture has left its traces, his +great brown eyes soft, widely opened, and raised towards heaven, with +his cold nimbus, a sort of phosphorescence around him which envelops +him in an indefinable glory, and that inexplicable look of a breathing +human being who certainly has passed through death." + +This description is by a celebrated French critic,[10] himself a +painter, who knows whereof he speaks. He says that this picture alone +is enough to establish the reputation of a man. + +[Footnote 10: Fromentin, in _Old Masters of Belgium and Holland._] + +There is one artistic quality in the picture to which we must pay +careful attention, as it is particularly characteristic of Rembrandt. +This is the way in which the light and shadow are arranged, or what a +critic would call the chiaroscuro of the picture. The heart of the +composition glows with a golden light which comes from some unseen +source. It falls on the white tablecloth with a dazzling brilliancy as +if from some bright lamp. It gleams on the faces of the company, +bringing out their expressions clearly. The arched recess behind the +table is thrown into heavy shadow, against which the centrally lighted +group is sharply contrasted. + +This singular manner of bringing light and darkness into striking +opposition makes the objects in a picture stand out very vividly. Some +one has defined chiaroscuro as the "art of rendering the atmosphere +visible and of painting an object enveloped in air." The art was +carried to perfection by Rembrandt. You will notice it more or less in +every picture of this collection, but nowhere is it more appropriate +than here, where the appearance of Christ, as the source of light, +emphasizes the mystery of the event and makes something sacred of this +common scene. + +As we compare this picture with the etching of Christ Preaching, we +get a better idea of Rembrandt's aim in representing Christ. He did +not try to make his face beautiful with regular classical features, +after the manner of the old Italian painters. He did not even think it +necessary to make his figure grand and imposing. Something still +better Rembrandt sought to put into his picture, and this was a gentle +expression of love. + + + + +X + +PORTRAIT OF SASKIA + + +We should have but a very imperfect idea of Rembrandt's work if we did +not learn something about the portraits he painted. It was for these +that he was most esteemed in his own day, being the fashionable +portrait painter of Amsterdam at a time when every person of means +wished to have his likeness painted. A collection of his works of this +kind would almost bring back again the citizens of Amsterdam in the +seventeenth century, so life-like are these wonderful canvases. Among +them we should find the various members of his family, his father and +mother, his sister, his servant, his son, and most interesting of all, +his beloved wife, Saskia. + +Saskia was born in Friesland, one of nine children of a wealthy +patrician family. Her father, Rombertus van Uylenborch, was a +distinguished lawyer, who had had several important political missions +intrusted to him. At one time he was sent as a messenger to William of +Orange, and was sitting at table with that prince just before his +assassination. He died in 1624, leaving Saskia an orphan, as she had +lost her mother five years before. The little girl of twelve now began +to live in turn with her married sisters. At the age of twenty she +came to Amsterdam to live for a while with her cousin, the wife of a +minister, Jan Cornelis Sylvius, whose face we know from one of +Rembrandt's etchings. Saskia had also another cousin living in +Amsterdam, Hendrick van Uylenborch, a man of artistic tastes, who had +not succeeded as a painter, and had become a dealer in bric--brac and +engravings. He was an old friend of Rembrandt; and when the young +painter came to seek his fortune in the great city in 1631, he had +made his home for a while with the art dealer. + +It was doubtless Hendrick who introduced Rembrandt to Saskia. Probably +the beginning of their acquaintance was through Rembrandt's painting +Saskia's portrait in 1632. The relation between them soon grew quite +friendly, for in the same year the young girl sat two or three times +again to the painter. The friendship presently ended in courtship, and +when Rembrandt pressed his suit the marriage seemed a very proper one. +Saskia was of a fine family and had a sufficient dowry. + +Rembrandt, though the son of a miller, was already a famous painter, +much sought after for portraits, and with a promising career before +him. The engagement was therefore approved by her guardians, but +marriage being deferred till she came of age, the courtship lasted two +happy years. During this time Rembrandt painted his lady love over and +over again. It was one of his artistic methods to paint the same +person many times. He was not one of the superficial painters who +turn constantly from one model to another in search of new effects. He +liked to make an exhaustive study of a single face in many moods, with +many expressions and varied by different costumes. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF SASKIA +_Cassel Gallery_] + +Saskia had small eyes and a round nose, and was not at all beautiful +according to classical standards. Rembrandt, however, cared less for +beauty than for expression, and Saskia's face was very expressive, at +times merry and almost roguish, and again quite serious. She had also +a brilliant complexion and an abundance of silky hair, waving from her +forehead. The painter had collected in his studio many pretty and +fantastic things to use in his pictures,--velvets and gold embroidered +cloaks, Oriental stuffs, laces, necklaces, and jewels. With these he +loved to deck Saskia, heightening her girlish charms with the play of +light upon these adornments. + +One of the most famous of the many portraits of Saskia at this time is +the picture we have here. Because it is not signed and dated, after +Rembrandt's usual custom, it is thought that it was intended as a gift +for Saskia herself, and thus it has a romantic interest for us. Also +it is painted with extreme care, as the work of a lover offering the +choicest fruit of his art. + +The artist has arranged a picturesque costume for his sitter,--a +broad-brimmed hat of red velvet with a sweeping white feather, an +elaborate dress with embroidered yoke and full sleeves, a rich mantle +draped over one shoulder, necklace, earrings, and bracelets of +pearls. Her expression is more serious here than usual, though very +happy, as if she was thinking of her lover; and in her hand she +carries a sprig of rosemary, which in Holland is the symbol of +betrothal, holding it near her heart. + +The marriage finally took place in June, 1634, in the town of Bildt. +The bridal pair then returned to Amsterdam to a happy home life. +Rembrandt had no greater pleasure than in the quiet family circle, and +Saskia had a simple loving nature, entirely devoted to her husband's +happiness. A few years later Rembrandt moved into a fine house in the +Breestraat, which he furnished richly with choice paintings and works +of art. + +A succession of portraits shows that the painter continued to paint +his wife with loving pride. He represented her as a Jewish bride, as +Flora, as an Odalisque, a Judith, a Susanna, and a Bathsheba. There is +one painting of the husband and wife together, Saskia perched like a +child on Rembrandt's knee, as he flourishes a wine-glass in the air. +In another picture (an etching) they sit together at a table about the +evening lamp, the wife with her needle-work, the artist with his +engraving. The love between them is the brightest spot in Rembrandt's +history, clouded as it was with many disappointments and troubles. As +a celebrated writer has expressed it, Saskia was "a ray of sunshine in +the perpetual chiaroscuro of his life." + + + + +XI + +THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD, OR THE NIGHT WATCH + + +The patriotism of the Dutch is seen through the entire history of +"brave little Holland." Early in the sixteenth century every town of +considerable size had a military company composed of the most +prominent citizens. Each company, or guild, had a place of assembly, +or _doelen_, and a drilling-ground. The officers were chosen for a +year, and the highest appointments were those of captain, lieutenant, +and ensign. Upon these civic guards rested the responsibility of +maintaining the order and safety of the town. Sterner duties than +these were theirs when in the late sixteenth century (1573), at the +call of William of Orange, the various guilds formed themselves into +volunteer companies to resist the Spanish. How well they acquitted +themselves is a matter of history, and Spain recognized the republic +in the treaty of 1609. After the war, many of the corporations were +reorganized and continued to be of great importance in the seventeenth +century. + +The picture we have here represents the Civic Guard of Amsterdam +during the captaincy of Frans Banning Cocq in 1642. Cocq was a man of +wealth and influence who had purchased the estate of Purmerland in +1618 and had also been granted a patent of nobility. So it was natural +that Lord Purmerland, one of the most distinguished citizens of the +town, should be called to a term of office as captain of the Civic +Guard. His magnificent stature and manly bearing show him well fitted +for the honor. + +The picture represents an occasion when the guard issues from the +assembly hall, or doelen, in a sudden call to action. Captain Cocq +leads the way with Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenberg, of Vlaerdingen, +and as he advances gives orders to his fellow officer. The drum beats, +the ensign unfurls the standard, every man carries a weapon of some +sort. One is priming a musket, another loading his gun, another +firing. A mass of lance-bearers press on from the rear. In the +confusion a dog scampers into the midst and barks furiously at the +drum. A little girl slips into the crowd on the other side, oddly out +of place in such company, but quite fearless. It has been suggested +that she may have been the bearer of the tidings which calls the guard +forth. The quaint figure is clad in a long dress of some shimmering +stuff, and she has the air of a small princess. From her belt hangs a +cock, and she turns her face admiringly towards the great captain. + +[Illustration: SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD +_Ryks Museum, Amsterdam_] + +We do not know of any historical incident which precisely corresponds +to the action in the picture. Indeed, it is not strictly speaking an +historical picture at all, but rather a portrait group of the Civic +Guard, in attitudes appropriate to their character as a military +body. They may be going out for target practice or for a shooting +match such as was held annually as a trial of skill; it may be a +parade, or it may be, as some have fancied, a call to arms against a +sudden attack from the enemy. In any case the noticeable thing is the +readiness with which all respond to the call--the spirit of patriotism +which animates the body. The Dutch are not naturally warlike, but +rather a peace-loving people; lacking the quick impulsiveness of a +more nervous race, they are of a somewhat heavy and deliberate temper; +yet they have the solid worth which can be counted on in an emergency, +and in love of country they are united to a man. Benjamin Franklin +once said of Holland, "In love of liberty, and bravery in the defense +of it, she has been our great example." + +The picture cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of its +history. Painted for the hall of the Amsterdam Musketeers, it was to +take its place among others by contemporary painters, as a portrait +group in honor of the officers of the year, and as a lasting memorial +of their services. The other pictures had been stiff groups about a +table, and the novelty of Rembrandt's composition displeased some of +the members of the guild. Each person who figures in the scene had +subscribed a certain sum towards the cost of the picture for his own +portrait, and was anxious to get his money's worth. Consequently, +there were many who did not at all relish their insignificance in the +background, quite overshadowed by the glory of the captain and +lieutenant. They thought they would have shown to much better +advantage arranged in rows. + +It was Rembrandt's way when painting a portrait to give life and +reality to the figure, by showing the leading element in the character +or occupation of the person. Thus his shipbuilder is designing a ship, +the writing master, Coppenol, is mending a pen, the architect has his +drawing utensils, and the preacher his Bible. So in the Civic Guard +each man carries a weapon, and the figures are united in spirited +action. All this artistic motive was lost upon those for whom the +picture was painted, because of their petty vanity. So the great +painting, now so highly esteemed, was not a success at the time. + +In the following century it was removed to the town hall; and in order +to fit it into a particular place on the wall, a strip was cut off +each side the canvas. It is the loss of these margins which gives the +composition the crowded appearance which so long seemed a strange +fault in a great artist like Rembrandt. + +The original colors of the painting grew so dark with the accumulation +of smoke in the hall that the critics supposed the scene occurred at +night, hence the incorrect name of the Night Watch was given to it. +Since the picture was cleaned, in 1889, it is apparent that the +incident occurred in the daytime, and if you look carefully you can +plainly see the shadow of Captain Cocq's hand on the lieutenant's +tunic. + + + + +XII + +PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX + + +When the painter Rembrandt came to Amsterdam in 1631, a young man +seeking his fortune in the great city, a lad of twelve years was +living in his father's country seat, near by, who was later to become +one of his warm friends. This was Jan Six, the subject of the portrait +etching reproduced here. There was a great contrast in the +circumstances of life in which the two friends grew up. Rembrandt was +the son of a miller, and had his own way to make in the world. Jan Six +was surrounded from his earliest years with everything which tended to +the gratification of his natural taste for culture. Rembrandt's rare +talent, however, overbalanced any lack of early advantages, and made +him a friend worth having. + +Six had come of Huguenot ancestry. His grandfather had fled to Holland +during the Huguenot persecution in France, and had become a resident +in Amsterdam in 1585. Jan's father, another Jan, had married a Dutch +lady of good family, whose maiden name was Anna Wijmer. It was in the +service of this good lady that we first hear of Rembrandt's connection +with the Six family. He was called to paint her portrait in 1641, and +must have then, if not before, made the acquaintance of her young +son, Jan. Jan united to a great love of learning a love of everything +beautiful, and was an ardent collector of objects of art. Paintings of +the old Italian and early Dutch schools, rare prints and curios of +various kinds, were his delight. He found in Rembrandt a man after his +own heart. Already the painter had gone far beyond his means in +filling his own house with costly works of art. So the two men, having +a hobby in common, found a strong bond of union in their congenial +tastes. We may be sure that they were often together, to show their +new purchases and discuss their beauty. + +Rembrandt, as an older and more experienced collector, would doubtless +have good advice to offer his younger friend, and, an artist himself, +would know how to judge correctly a work of art. One record of their +friendship in these years is a little etched landscape which Rembrandt +made in 1641, showing a bridge near the country estate of the Six +family, a place called Elsbroek, near the village of Hillegom. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +It was in 1647 that Rembrandt made this portrait of his friend, then +twenty-nine years of age. Six had now begun to make a name for himself +in the world of letters as a scholar and poet. He had already +published a poem on Muiderberg (a village near Amsterdam), and by this +time, doubtless, had under way his great literary work, the tragedy of +Meda. Many were the times when Rembrandt, coming to his house to talk +over some new treasure-trove, found him in his library with his +head buried in a book, and his thoughts far away. It was in such a +moment that he must have had the idea of this beautiful portrait. He +catches his friend one day in the corner of his library, standing with +his back to the window to get the light on the book he is reading. He +transfers the picture to a copper plate and hands it down to future +generations. + +The slender figure of the young man is clad in the picturesque dress +of a gentleman of his time, with knee-breeches and low shoes, with +wide white collar and cuffs. His abundant wavy blond hair falls to his +shoulders; he has the air of a true poet. In his eagerness to read, he +has flung his cavalier's cloak on the window seat behind him, a part +of it dropping upon a chair beyond. Its voluminous folds make a +cushion for him, as he leans gracefully against the window ledge. His +sword and belt lie on the chair with the cloak. For the moment the pen +is mightier than the sword. The furnishings of the room show the +owner's tastes; a pile of folio volumes fill a low chair, an antique +picture hangs on the wall. + +The young man's face is seen by the light reflected from the pages of +his open book. It is a refined, sensitive face, of high intellectual +cast, amiable withal, and full of imagination. He is completely +absorbed in his reading, a smile playing about his mouth. How little +of a fop and how much of a poet he is, we see from his disordered +collar. Breathing quickly as he bends over his book, in his +excitement he cannot endure the restraint of a close collar. He has +unloosed it, as, quite oblivious of any untidiness in his appearance, +he hurries on, ruthlessly crushing the pages of the folio back, as he +grasps it in his hand. + +The friendship between Six and Rembrandt seemed to grow apace; for +when the tragedy of Meda was published, in 1648, it was illustrated +by a magnificent etching by Rembrandt, representing the Marriage of +Jason and Creusa. + +The literary work of Jan Six led the way to various public honors. In +1656 he became commissioner of marriages; in 1667, a member of the +Council of the States General of Holland, and in 1691, burgomaster of +Amsterdam. His continued friendship for Rembrandt was shown in his +purchasing a number of the latter's paintings. Rembrandt at length +painted a magnificent portrait of his friend in his old age, which, +with the portrait of his mother and the original plate for this +etching, still remains in the Six family in Amsterdam. Referring to +the portrait of Jan Six, the famous Dutch poet, Vondel, contemporary +of Rembrandt and Six, paid a fitting tribute to the great burgomaster, +as a "lover of science, art, and virtue." + + + + +XII + +PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN + + +The story is told of a little child who, upon being introduced to a +kind-faced lady, looked up brightly into her eyes with the question, +"Whose mother are you?" When we look into the wrinkled old face of +this picture, the same sort of a question springs to mind, and we +involuntarily ask, "Whose grandmother are you?" We are sure that +children and grandchildren have leaned upon that capacious lap. The +name of the subject is not known, though the same face appears many +times in Rembrandt's works. But there are many people whose names we +can quote, of whom we know much less than of this old woman. + +The story of her life is written in the picture. Those clasped hands, +large and knotted, have done much hard work. They have ministered to +the needs of two generations. They have dandled the baby on her knee, +and supported the little toddler taking his first steps. They have +tended the child and wrought for the youth. They have built the fire +on the hearth and swept out the house; they have kneaded the bread and +filled the kettle; they have spun and woven, and sewed and mended. +They have not even shrunk from the coarser labors of dooryard and +field, the care of the cattle, the planting and harvesting. But labor +has done nothing to coarsen the innate refinement of the soul which +looks out of the fine old face. + +She is resting now. The children and grandchildren have grown up to +take care of themselves and their grandmother also. She has time to +sit down in the twilight of life, just as she used to sit down at the +close of each day's work, to think over what has happened. She has a +large comfortable chair, and she is neatly dressed, as befits an old +woman whose life work is done. A white kerchief is folded across her +bosom, a shawl is wrapped about her shoulders, and a hood droops over +her forehead. Her thoughts are far away from her present surroundings; +something sad occupies them. She dreams of the past and perhaps also +of the future. Sorrow as well as work has had a large share in her +life, but she has borne it all with patient resignation. She is not +one to complain, and does not mean to trouble others with her sadness. +But left all alone with her musings, a look of yearning comes into her +eyes as for something beautiful and much loved, lost long ago. + +Some painters have been at great pains to fashion a countenance +sorrowful enough and patient enough to represent the subject of the +Mater Dolorosa, that is, the Sorrowing Mother of Christ. Perhaps they +would have succeeded better if they had turned away from their own +imaginations to some mother in real life, who has loved and worked +and suffered like this one. The face answers in part our first +question. A woman like this is capable of mothering great sons. +Industrious, patient, self-sacrificing, she would spare herself +nothing to train them faithfully. And the life of which her face +speaks--a life of self-denying toil, ennobled by high ideals of +duty--is the stuff of which heroes are made. Some of the great men of +history had such mothers. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN +_Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg_] + +The picture illustrates the fact that a face may be interesting and +even artistic, if not beautiful. This idea may surprise many, for when +one calls a person "as pretty as a picture," it seems to be understood +that it is only pretty people who make suitable models for pictures. +Rembrandt, however, was of quite another mind. He was a student of +character as well as a painter, and he cared to paint faces more for +their expression than for beauty of feature. + +Now the expression of a face is to a great extent the index of +character. We say that the child has "no character in his face," +meaning that his skin is still fair and smooth, before his thoughts +and feelings have made any record there. Gradually the character +impresses itself on his face. Experience acts almost like a sculptor's +chisel, carving lines of care and grooving furrows of sorrow, shaping +the mouth and the setting of the eyes. + +The longer this process continues, the more expressive the face +becomes, so that it is the old whose faces tell the most interesting +stories of life. Rembrandt understood this perfectly, and none ever +succeeded better than he in revealing the poetry and beauty of old +age. + +His way of showing the character in the face of this old woman is very +common with him. The high light of the picture is concentrated on the +face and is continued down upon the snowy kerchief. This forms a +diamond of light shading by gradations into darker tints. It was the +skillful use of light and shadow in the picture, which made a poetic +and artistic work of a subject which another painter might have made +very commonplace. + + + + +XIV + +THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD + + +The word syndic is a name applied to an officer of a corporation, and +this is its meaning in the title of the picture, The Syndics of the +Cloth Guild. In Holland, as in England and France and elsewhere in +Europe, guilds were associations of tradesmen or artisans united for +purposes of mutual help and for the interests of their respective +industries. In some points they were the forerunners of modern trades +unions, except that the members were proprietary merchants and master +craftsmen instead of employees, and their purpose was the advancement +of commercial interests in municipal affairs, instead of the +protection of labor against capital. There were guilds of mercers, +wine merchants, goldsmiths, painters and many others. + +Now the wool industry was one of the most important in Holland, hence +the Guild of Drapers or Cloth Workers was a dignified association in +several cities. There was one in Leyden, where Rembrandt was born, and +another in Amsterdam, where he passed the most of his life. Amsterdam +was at that time the foremost commercial city of Europe. Its guilds +had fine halls, ornamented with works of art painted by the best +contemporary artists. It was for this purpose that Rembrandt received +from the Amsterdam Cloth Guild the commission to paint a portrait +group of their five officers, and he accordingly delivered to them in +1661 the great picture of which we have this little reproduction to +examine. + +Just as in the picture of the Civic Guard he had given life to the +portraits, by showing the members in some action appropriate to their +military character, so here he represents the officers of the guild in +surroundings suggestive of their duties. They are gathered about a +table covered with a rich scarlet cloth, on which rests the great +ledger of the corporation. They are engaged in balancing their +accounts and preparing a report for the year, and a servant awaits +their order in the rear of the apartment. Their task seems a pleasant +one, for whatever difficulties have arisen during their +administration, it is evident that the outcome is successful. They +take a quiet satisfaction in the year's record. + +It is as if in the midst of their consultations, as they turn the +leaves of the ledger, we suddenly open the door into the room. They +are surprised but not disturbed by the intrusion, and look genially +towards the newcomers. The younger man at the end welcomes us with a +smile. Next to him is one who has been leaning over the book. He +raises his head and meets our eyes frankly and cordially. His +companion continues his discourse, gesturing with the right hand. The +older men at one side give more attention to the arrival. One seated +in the armchair smiles good naturedly; the other, rising and +leaning on the table, peers forward with a look of keen inquiry. + +[Illustration: THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD +_Ryks Museum, Amsterdam_] + +As we examine the faces one by one, we could almost write a character +study of each man, so wonderfully does the portrait reveal the inner +life--the placid amiability of one, the quiet humor of another, the +keen, incisive insight of a third. That they are all men of sound +judgment we may well believe, and they are plainly men to be trusted. +The motto of the guild is a key to their character: "Conform to your +vows in all matters clearly within their jurisdiction; live honestly; +be not influenced in your judgments by favor, hatred, or personal +interest." These principles are at the foundation of the commercial +prosperity for which Holland is noted. + +The picture may be taken to illustrate a page in American history. It +was the Dutch, as we all remember, who founded the State of New York, +and the fifty years of their occupation (1614-1664) fell within the +lifetime of Rembrandt. The fifteen thousand settlers, who came during +this time from Holland to America, brought with them the manners and +customs of their home country. The citizens of New Amsterdam were the +counterparts of their contemporaries in the old Amsterdam. We may see, +then, in this picture of the Cloth Merchants of Amsterdam just such +men as were to be seen among our own colonists. In the broad-brimmed +hat and the wide white collar we find the same peculiarities of dress, +and in their honest faces we read the same national traits. It was to +men like these that we owe a debt of gratitude for some of the best +elements in our national life. In the words of a historian,[11] "The +republican Dutchmen gave New York its tolerant and cosmopolitan +character, insured its commercial supremacy, introduced the common +schools, founded the oldest day school and the first Protestant church +in the United States, and were pioneers in most of the ideas and +institutions we boast of as distinctly American." + +[Footnote 11: W. E. Griffis, in _Brave Little Holland_, pp. 212-213.] + +If you fancy that it was quite accidental that the six figures of this +picture are so well arranged, and wonder why the art of Rembrandt +should be so praised here, you may try an experiment with your camera +upon a group of six figures. In posing six persons in any order which +is not stiff, and getting them all to look with one accord and quite +naturally towards a single point, you will understand some of the many +difficulties which Rembrandt overcame so simply. + + + + +XV + +THE THREE TREES + + +Holland, as is well known, is a country built upon marshes, which have +been drained and filled in by the patient industry of many generations +of workers. The land is consequently very low, almost perfectly level, +and is covered by a network of canals. It lacks many of the features +which make up the natural scenery of other countries,--mountains and +ravines, rocks and rivers,--but it is, nevertheless, a very +picturesque country. Artists love it for the quiet beauty of its +landscape. Though this is not grand and awe-inspiring, it is restful +and attractive. + +We may well believe that the artistic nature of Rembrandt was +sensitive to the influences of his native Dutch scenery. Though his +great forte in art lay in other directions, he paused from time to +time to paint or etch a landscape. + +Even in this unaccustomed work he proved himself a master. He treated +the subject much as he did a portrait,--trying to bring out the +character of the scene just as he brought out the character in a face. +How much of a story he could tell in a single picture we see in this +famous etching called The Three Trees. + +One can tell at a glance that this is Holland. We look across a wide +level stretch of land, and the eye travels on and on into an almost +endless distance. Far away we see the windmills of a Dutch town +outlined against the sky,--a sign of industry as important in Holland +as are factory chimneys in some other parts of the world. Beyond this, +another endless level stretch meets the sky at the horizon line. It is +hard to distinguish the land and water, which seem to lie in alternate +strips. The pastures are surrounded by canals as by fences. + +Here and there are cows grazing, and we are reminded of the fine dairy +farms for which Holland is noted, the rich butter and cheese, which +are the product of these vast flat lands, apparently so useless and +unproductive. Directly in front of us, at the left, is a still pool, +and on the farther bank stands a fisherman holding a rod over the +water. A woman seated on the bank watches the process with intense +interest. There are two other figures near by which can hardly be +discerned. + +[Illustration: THE THREE TREES +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +The wide outlook of flat country is the setting for the little +tree-crowned hill which rises near us at the right. It would seem a +very small hillock anywhere else, but in these level surroundings it +has a distinct character. It is the one striking feature which gives +expression to the face of the landscape. The eye turns with pleasure +to its grassy slopes and leafy trees. The trees have the symmetrical +grace so characteristic of Dutch vegetation. Nothing is allowed to +grow wild in this country. Every growing thing is carefully nurtured +and trained. We see that the distances between these trees were +carefully spaced in the planting, so that each one might develop +independently and perfectly without injury to the others. The branches +grow from their straight trunks at the same height, and they are +plainly of the same age. Their outer branches interlace in brotherly +companionship to make a solid leafy arbor, beneath which the wayfarer +may find a shady retreat. On the summit of the hill, outlined against +the sky, is a hay wagon followed by a man with a rake. At a distance, +also clearly seen against the sky, on the ridge of the hill, sits a +man, alone and idle. + +The sky is a wonderful part of the picture. Rembrandt, it appears, +almost never ventured to represent the clouds. He had the true +artist's reverence for subjects which were beyond his skill, and +preferred to leave untouched what he could not do well. Now in this +case, lacking the experience to draw a sky as finished in workmanship +as his landscape, he _suggested_ in a few lines the effect which he +wished to produce. At the left a few diagonal strokes show a smart +shower just at hand. A whirl of dark-colored clouds comes next, and in +the upper air beyond, a stratum of clouds is indicated by a mass of +lines crossing and recrossing in long swirling curves. + +With these few lines Rembrandt conveys perfectly the idea that a storm +is approaching. The clouds seem to be in motion, scurrying across the +sky in advance of the rain. One imaginative critic has thought that +he could discern in the cloud-whirl a dim phantom figure as of the +spirit of the on-coming storm. Like the clouds we often see in nature, +it takes some new fantastic shape every time we look at it. Altogether +the impression we receive is that of vivid reality. The artist's few +lines have produced with perfect success an effect, which might have +been entirely spoiled had he tried to finish it carefully. + +We look once more at the landscape to see what influence the coming +storm has upon it. The fisherman pays no heed. The clouding of the sky +only makes the fish bite better, and absorbed in his sport he cares +nothing for weather. The haymaker on the hilltop has a better chance +to read the face of the sky, and starts up his wagon. The three trees +seem to feel the impending danger. Their leafage is already darkening +in the changed light, and they toss their branches in the wind, as if +to wrestle with the spirit of the storm. + + + + +XVI + +THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT + + +In studying the fifteen pictures of this collection, we have seen +something of the work of the great Dutch master, Rembrandt, and have +learned a little of the man himself, of his love for the sweet wife, +Saskia, of his friendship with the cultured burgomaster, Jan Six, of +his faithful and reverent study of the Bible, of his rare insight into +people's character. We are ready now to look directly into the +artist's own face, in a portrait by his own hand. + +There are a great many portraits of Rembrandt etched and painted by +himself. We have noticed how fond he was of painting the same model +many times, in order to make a thorough study of the face, in varying +moods and expressions. Now there was one sitter who was always at +hand, and ready to do his bidding. He had only to take a position in +front of a mirror, and there was this model willing to pose in any +position and with any expression he desired. So obliging a sitter +could nowhere else be found; and thus it is that there is such a large +collection of his self-made portraits. + +His habit of painting his own portrait gave him an opportunity to +study all sorts of costume effects. His patrons were plain, slow-going +Dutchmen who did not want any "fancy" effects in their portraits. +They wished first of all a faithful likeness in such clothing as they +ordinarily wore. It was chiefly in his own portraits that Rembrandt +had the satisfaction of painting the rich and fanciful costumes he +loved so well. He wore in turn all sorts of hats and caps, many jewels +and ornaments, and every variety of mantle, doublet, and cuirass. In +this he was somewhat like an actor taking the parts of many different +characters. Sometimes he is an officer with mustaches fiercely +twisted, carrying his head with a dashing military air. Again he is a +cavalier wearing his velvet mantle, and plumed hat, with the languid +elegance of a gentleman of leisure. Sometimes he seems a mere country +boor, a rough, unkempt fellow, with coarse features and a heavy +expression. + +As we see him acting so many rles, we may well wonder what the +character of the man really was. As a matter of fact, he was full of +singular contradictions. In his personal habits he was frugal and +temperate to the last degree, preferring the simplest fare, and +contenting himself with a lunch of herring and cheese when occupied +with his work. On the other hand, his artistic tastes led him into +reckless extravagance. He thought no price too great to pay for a +choice painting, or rare print, upon which he had set his heart. He +was generous to a fault, fond of his friends, yet living much alone. + +In the portrait we have chosen for our frontispiece, we like to +believe that we see Rembrandt, the man himself. He wears one of his +rich studio costumes, but the face which he turns to ours is quite +free from any affectation; a spirit of sincerity looks out of his +kindly eyes. The portrait is signed and dated 1640, so that the man is +between thirty and thirty-five years of age. This was the happiest +period of Rembrandt's life, while his wife Saskia was still living to +brighten his home. + +We see his contentment in his face. He has large mobile features, +which have here settled into an expression of genial repose. He has +the dignified bearing of one whose professional success entitles him +to a just sense of self-satisfaction, but he is not posing as a great +man. He is still a simple-hearted miller's son, a man whom we should +like to meet in his own family circle, with his little ones playing +about him. He is a man to whom children might run, sure of a friendly +welcome; he is a man whom strangers might trust, sure of his +sincerity. It is, in short, Rembrandt, with all the kindliest human +qualities uppermost, which show us, behind the artist, the man +himself. + + * * * * * + + + + +PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS + +The Diacritical Marks given are those found in the latest edition of +Webster's International Dictionary. + +EXPLANATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS. + + +A Dash ([=]) above the vowel denotes the long sound, as in f[=a]te, + [=e]ve, t[=i]me, n[=o]te, [=u]se. + +A Dash and a Dot ([.=]) above the vowel denote the same sound, less + prolonged. + +A Curve ([)]) above the vowel denotes the short sound, as in [)a]d + [)e]nd, [)i]ll, [)o]dd, [)u]p. + +A Dot ([.]) above the vowel a denotes the obscure sound of a in p[.a]st, + [.a]b[=a]te, Am[)e]ric[.a]. + +A Double Dot ([:]) above the vowel a denotes the broad sound of a in + fther, lms. + +A Double Dot ([:]) below the vowel a denotes the sound of a in b[a:]ll. + +A Wave ([~]) above the vowel e denotes the sound of e in h[~e]r. + +A Circumflex Accent ([^]) above the vowel o denotes the sound of o in brn. + + sounds like e in d[.=e]p[)e]nd. + + sounds like o in pr[.=o]p[=o]se. + + sounds like s. + +[-c] sounds like k. + +[s=] sounds like Z. + +[=g] is hard as in [=g]et. + +[.g] is soft as in [.g]em. + + +Amsterdam ([)A]m'st[~e]rd[)a]m). + +Apocrypha ([.a] p[)o]k'r[)i] f[.a]). + +Aramaic ([)A]r[.a]m[=a]'[)i][-c]). + +Asenath ([=A]s[=e]'n[)a]th). + +Assyria ([)A]ss[)y]r'[)i][.a]). + +Azarias ([)A]z[.a]r[=i]'[)a]s). + + +Bathsheba (B[)a]thsh[=e]'b[.a]). + +Bethlehem (B[)e]th'l[=e]h[)e]m). + +Bildt (b[=e]lt). + +Braun (brown). + +Breestraat (br[=a]'strt). + +burgher (b[~e]r'g[~e]r). + + +Capernaum ([-C][=a]p[~e]r'n[=a][)u]m). + +Cassel (ks's[)e]l). + +chiaroscuro (ky r[.=o] sk[=oo]'r[.=o]). + +Cleopas ([-C]l[=e]'[=o]p[)a]s). + +Cocq (k[=k]). + +Coppenol (k[)o]p'p[.=e] n[)o]). + +Creusa ([-C]r[=e][=u]'s[.a]). + +cuirass (kw[=e] rs'). + +cymar (s[=i] mr'). + + +doelen (d[=oo]'l[)e]n). + + +Ecbatane ([)e]k b[)a]t'[.a] n[)u]). + +Elsbroek ([)e]ls'br[=oo]k). + +Emmaus (Emm[=a]'[)u]s) or ([)e]m'm[=a] [)u]s). + +Enemessar (En[=e]m[)e]s's[)a]r). + +Ephraim (E'phr[=a][)i]m). + +etzn ([)e]t'z[)n]). + + +Friesland (fr[=e]z'l[.a]nd). + +Fromentin (fr[.=o] m[)o]N t[))a]N') + + +Gabael (G[)a]b'[.=a][)e]l) or (g[.=a]'b[.=a] [)e]l). + +Galileo (G[)a]l[)i]l[=e]'[.=o]). + +Gennesaret ([.G][)e]nn[)e]s'[.a]r[)e]t). + +Goethe ([=g][~e]'t[)u]). + + +Hague (h[=a]g). + +Hamelin (h'm[)e] l[)i]n). + +Hanfstaengl, Franz (hnf'st[=a]ngl frnts). + +Hatto (h[)a]t'[.=o]). + +Hillegom (h[)i]l'l[.=e] g[)o]m). + + +Israel (I[.=s]'r[=a][)e]l). + + +Jason (J[=a]'s[)o]n). + +Jericho (J[)e]r'[)i][-c]h[=o]). + +Joden (y[=o]'d[)e]n). + + +Lastman, Pieter (lst'mn p[=e]'t[~e]r). + +Leyden (l[=i]'d[)e]n). + +Louvre (l[=oo]'vr). + + +Manasseh (m[.a] n[)a]s's[)u]). + +Manoah (M[.=a]n[=o]'[.a]h). + +Mater Dolorosa (m[=a]'t[~e]r d[)o]l [.=o] r[=o]'s[.a]). + +Meda (m[.=e] d[=e]'[.a]). + +Media (m[=e]'d[)i] [.a]). + +Michel (m[.=e] sh[)e]l'). + +Muiderberg (moi'd[e(]r b[)e]rg). + + +Nazareth (N[)a]z'[.a]r[)e]th). + +Nineveh (n[)i]n'[.=e] v[)u]). + + +Odalisque ([=o]'d[.a] l[)i]sk). + + +Padanaram (P[=a]d[.a]n[=a]'r[.a]m). + +Palestine (P[)a]l'[)e]st[=i]ne). + +Peniel (P[.=e]n[=i]'[.=e]l). + +Penuel (P[.=e]n[=u]'[)e]l). + +Purmerland (P[)u]r'm[~e]rl[)a]nd). + + +Rages (R[=a]'g[=e]s). + +Raguel (R[.=a]g[=u]'[)e]l) or (r[)a]g'[=u] [)e]l). + +Raphael (r'f[=a] [)e]l). + +Rembrandt (r[)e]m'br[)a]nt). + +Ruytenberg, Willem van (roi't[e(]n b[)e]rg w[)i]l'l[)e]m vn). + +Ryks (R[=y]ks). + + +Saskia (ss'k[.=e] [.a]). + +Sennacherib (S[)e]nn[)a]ch'[.=e]r[)i]b). + +Simeon (S[)i]m'[.=e][)o]n). + +Six, Jan (s[=e]x yn). + +Stuttgart (st[)oo]t'grt). + +Sylvius, Jan Cornelis (s[)i]l'v[.=e] [)oo]s yn k[.=o]r n[=e]'l[)i]s). + +Syndic (S[)y]n'd[)i][-c]). + +Swanenburch (sw'n[)e]n b[)oo]rK). + + +Tigris (T[=i]'gr[)i]s). + +Tobias (T[.=o]b[=i]'[)a]s). + +Tobit (T[=o]'b[)i]t). + +Trippenhuis (tr[)i]p'p[)e]n hois). + + +Uylenborch, Rombertus van (oi'l[)e]n b[.=o]rK r[)o]m b[)e]r't[)oo]s vn). + + +Vlaerdingen (vlr'd[)i]ng [)e]n). + +Vondel (v[)o]n'd[)e]l). + + +Wijmer (w[=i]'m[~e]r). + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. 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Hurll + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + a[name] { position:absolute; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; background-color:#FFFFFF; + text-decoration:none; } + a:visited {color:#0000ff; background-color:#FFFFFF; + text-decoration:none; } + a:hover { color:#ff0000; background-color:#FFFFFF; } + a img {border: none; } + + table { width:80%; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .tocch { text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + .tocpg {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + .tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: solid black 1px;} + ul { list-style-type: none; } + li { padding-bottom:0.25em; padding-top:0.25em; } + .f1 { font-size:smaller; } + + div.index { /* styles that apply to all text in an index */ + font-size: 90%; /*small type for compactness */} + + ul.IX { + list-style-type: none; + font-size:inherit; + } + .IX li { /* list items in an index: compressed verticallly */ + margin-top: 0; + } + + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style:normal; + } /* page numbers */ + + + + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + .caption {font-weight: bold; + font-size: smaller; + } + p.sig { margin-left: 75%; } +p.sig1 { margin-left: 5%; } +p.sig2 { margin-left: 10%; } + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-bottom; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. Hurll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rembrandt + A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the + Painter with Introduction and Interpretation + +Author: Estelle M. Hurll + +Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #19602] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMBRANDT *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note.</p><p> +The images in this eBook of the paintings are from the original book. +However many of these paintings have undergone extensive restoration. The restored paintings are presented as modern color images with links. Modern images of the etchings are also given as links.</p></div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_1" id="pic_1"></a> + <a href="images/image_01_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_01.jpg" width="450" height="655" alt="REMBRANDT VAN RYN (BY HIMSELF) National Gallery, London" title="REMBRANDT VAN RYN (BY HIMSELF) National Gallery, London" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">REMBRANDT VAN RYN (BY HIMSELF)<br /> + National Gallery, London</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_01_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + + + +<h3>Masterpieces of Art</h3> +<p> </p> +<h1>REMBRANDT</h1> +<p> </p> +<h3>A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES</h3> +<h3>AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER</h3> +<h3>WITH INTRODUCTION AND</h3> +<h3>INTERPRETATION</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ESTELLE M. HURLL</h2> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/seal.jpg" width="150" height="187" alt="Seal" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<h4>BOSTON AND NEW YORK</h4> +<h3>HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</h3> +<h4>The Riverside Press Cambridge</h4> +<h3>1899</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center f1">COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<p>The choice of pictures for this collection has been made with the +object of familiarizing the student with works fairly representative +of Rembrandt's art in portraiture and Biblical illustration, landscape +and genre study, in painting and etching. Admirers of the Dutch master +may miss some well-known pictures. For obvious reasons the Lecture in +Anatomy is deemed unsuitable for this place, and the Hundred Guilder +Print contains too many figures to be reproduced here clearly. The +Syndics of the Cloth Guild and the print of Christ Preaching will +compensate for these omissions, and show Rembrandt at his best, both +with brush and burin.</p> + +<p>There are perhaps no paintings in the world more difficult to +reproduce satisfactorily in black and white than those of Rembrandt. +His marvelous effects of chiaroscuro leave in darkness portions of the +composition, which appear in the photograph as unintelligible blurs. +With these difficulties to meet, great pains have been taken to select +for the reproductions of this book the best photographs made direct +from the original paintings. A comparative study of the available +material has resulted in making use of an almost equal number from +Messrs. Hanfstaengl & Co. and Messrs. Braun & Cie.</p> + +<p>In reproducing the etchings the publishers have been most fortunate in +being able to use for the purpose original prints in the Harvey D. +Parker Collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.</p> + +<p class="sig">ESTELLE M. HURLL.</p> + +<p class="sig1"><span class="smcap">New Bedford, Mass.</span></p> + +<p class="sig2">November, 1899.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS_AND_LIST_OF_PICTURES" id="CONTENTS_AND_LIST_OF_PICTURES"></a>CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES</h2> + + + + + + + + + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td colspan="4"><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_1">Portrait of Rembrandt. Painted by himself.</a></span></td> +<td> <i><a href="#pic_1">Frontispiece.</a></i></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="4"><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_1">From Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie.</a></span></td> +<td></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td><td class="tocpg f1">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="4"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></td> +<td></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td class="tocch">I.</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">On Rembrandt's Character as an Artist</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td class="tocch">II.</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#sec_2">On Books of Reference</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_xi">xi</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td class="tocch">III.</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#sec_3">Historical Directory of the Pictures of this Collection</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_xiii">xiii</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td class="tocch">IV.</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#sec_4">Outline Table of the Principal Events in Rembrandt's Life</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_xiv">xiv</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td class="tocch">V.</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#sec_5">Some of Rembrandt's Famous Contemporaries in Holland</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_xv">xv</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td class="tocch">VI.</td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#sec_6">Foreign Contemporary Painters</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_xvii">xvii</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">I.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#I">JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_2">Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">II.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II">ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_3">Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">III.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III">THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_4">Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">IV.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#IV">THE RAT KILLER</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_5">Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">V.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#V">THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_6">Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">VI.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#VI">THE GOOD SAMARITAN</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_7">Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">VII.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#VII">THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_8">Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">VIII.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#VIII">CHRIST PREACHING</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_9">Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">IX.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#IX">CHRIST AT EMMAUS</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_10">Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">X.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#X">PORTRAIT OF SASKIA</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_11">Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XI.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XI">THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_12">Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XII.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XII">PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_13">Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XIII.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XIII">PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_14">Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XIV.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XIV">THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_15">Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XV.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XV">THE THREE TREES</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td></td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#pic_16">Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston</a></span></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tocch">XVI.</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XVI">THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT</a> (<i><a href="#pic_1">See Frontispiece</a></i>)</td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="4"><a href="#PRONOUNCING_VOCABULARY_OF_PROPER_NAMES_AND_FOREIGN_WORDS">PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS</a></td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<h3>I. ON REMBRANDT'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST</h3> + + +<p>A general impression prevails with the large picture-loving public +that a special training is necessary to any proper appreciation of +Rembrandt. He is the idol of the connoisseur because of his superb +mastery of technique, his miracles of chiaroscuro, his blending of +colors. Those who do not understand these matters must, it is +supposed, stand quite without the pale of his admirers. Too many +people, accepting this as a dictum, take no pains to make the +acquaintance of the great Dutch master. It may be that they are +repelled at the outset by Rembrandt's indifference to beauty. His +pictures lack altogether those superficial qualities which to some are +the first requisites of a picture. Weary of the familiar commonplaces +of daily life, the popular imagination looks to art for happier scenes +and fairer forms. This taste, so completely gratified by Raphael, is +at first strangely disappointed by Rembrandt. While Raphael peoples +his canvases with beautiful creatures of another realm, Rembrandt +draws his material from the common world about us. In place of the +fair women and charming children with whom Raphael delights us, he +chooses his models from wrinkled old men and beggars. Rembrandt is +nevertheless a poet and a visionary in his own way. "For physical +beauty he substitutes moral expression," says Fromentin. If in the +first glance at his picture we see only a transcript of common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> life, +a second look discovers something in this common life that we have +never before seen there. We look again, and we see behind the +commonplace exterior the poetry of the inner life. A vision of the +ideal hovers just beyond the real. Thus we gain refreshment, not by +being lifted out of the world, but by a revelation of the beauty which +is in the world. Rembrandt becomes to us henceforth an interpreter of +the secrets of humanity. As Raphael has been surnamed "the divine," +for the godlike beauty of his creations, so Rembrandt is "the human," +for his sympathetic insight into the lives of his fellow men.</p> + +<p>Even for those who are slow to catch the higher meaning of Rembrandt's +work, there is still much to entertain and interest in his rare +story-telling power—a gift which should in some measure compensate +for his lack of superficial beauty. His story themes are almost +exclusively Biblical, and his style is not less simple and direct than +the narrative itself. Every detail counts for something in the +development of the dramatic action. Probably no other artist has +understood so well the pictorial qualities of patriarchal history. +That singular union of poetry and prose, of mysticism and practical +common sense, so striking in the Hebrew character, appealed powerfully +to Rembrandt's imagination. It was peculiarly well represented in the +scenes of angelic visitation. Jacob wrestling with the Angel affords a +fine contrast between the strenuous realities of life and the pure +white ideal rising majestically beyond. The homely group of Tobit's +family is glorified by the light of the radiant angel soaring into +heaven from the midst of them.</p> + +<p>Rembrandt's New Testament scenes are equally well adapted to emphasize +the eternal immanence of the super<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span>natural in the natural. The +Presentation in the Temple is invested with solemn significance; the +simple Supper at Emmaus is raised into a sacrament by the transfigured +countenance of the Christ. For all these contrasts between the actual +and the ideal, Rembrandt had a perfect vehicle of artistic expression +in chiaroscuro. In the mastery of the art of light and shade he is +supreme. His entire artistic career was devoted to this great problem, +and we can trace his success through all the great pictures from the +Presentation to the Syndics.</p> + +<p>Rembrandt apparently cared very little for the nude, for the delicate +curves of the body and the exquisite colors of flesh. Yet to +overbalance this disregard of beautiful form was his strong +predilection for finery. None ever loved better the play of light upon +jewels and satin and armor, the rich effectiveness of Oriental stuffs +and ecclesiastical vestments. Unable to gratify this taste in the +portraits which he painted to order, he took every opportunity to +paint both himself and his wife, Saskia, in costume. Wherever the +subject admitted, he introduced what he could of rich detail. In the +picture of Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph, Asenath, as the wife of +an Egyptian official, is appropriately adorned with jewels and finery. +In the Sortie of the Civic Guard, Captain Cocq is resplendent in his +military regalia.</p> + +<p>With all this fondness for pretty things, Rembrandt never allowed his +fancy to carry him beyond the limits of fitness in sacred art. The +Venetian masters had represented the most solemn scenes of the New +Testament with a pomp and magnificence entirely at variance with their +meaning. Rembrandt understood better the real significance of +Christianity, and made no such mistake. His Supper at Emmaus is the +simple evening meal of three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> peasant pilgrims precisely as it is +represented in the Gospel. His Christ Preaching includes a motley +company of humble folk, such as the great Teacher loved to gather +about him.</p> + +<p>It was perhaps the obverse side of his fondness for finery, that +Rembrandt had a strong leaning towards the picturesqueness of rags. A +very interesting class of his etchings is devoted to genre studies and +beggars. Here his disregard of the beautiful in the passion for +expression reached an extreme. His subjects are often +grotesque—sometimes repulsive—but always intensely human. Reading +human character with rare sympathy, he was profoundly touched by the +poetry and the pathos of these miserable lives. Through all these +studies runs a quaint vein of humor, relieving the pathos of the +situations. The picturesque costume of the old Rat Killer tickles the +sense of humor, and conveys somehow a delightful suggestion of his +humbuggery which offsets the touching squalor of the grotesque little +apprentice. And none but a humorist could have created the swaggering +hostler's boy holding the Good Samaritan's horse.</p> + +<p>As a revealer of character, Rembrandt reaches the climax of his power +in his portraits. From this class of his pictures alone one can +repeople Holland with the spirits of the seventeenth century. All +classes and conditions and all ages came within the range of his magic +brush and burin. The fresh girlhood of Saskia, the sturdy manhood of +the Syndics, and the storied old age of his favorite old woman model +show the scope of his power, and in Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph +he shows the whole range in a single composition. He is manifestly at +his best when his sitter has pronounced features and wrinkled skin, a +face full of character, which he under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span>stood so well how to depict. +Obstacles stimulated him to his highest endeavor. Given the prosaic +and hackneyed motif of the Syndics' composition, he rose to the +highest point of artistic expression in a portrait group, in which a +grand simplicity of technical style is united with a profound and +intimate knowledge of human nature.</p> + + +<h3><a name="sec_2" id="sec_2"></a>II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE</h3> +<p>The history of modern Rembrandt bibliography properly begins with the +famous work by C. Vosmaer, "Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, sa Vie et ses +Œuvres." Vosmaer profited by the researches of Kolloff and Burger +to bring out a book which opened a new era in the appreciation of the +great Dutch master. It was first issued in 1868, and was republished +in 1877 in an enlarged edition. This book was practically alone in the +field until the recent work of Emile Michel appeared. In the English +translation (by Florence Simmonds) edited by Walter Armstrong, +Michel's "Rembrandt" is at the present moment our standard authority +on the subject. It is in two large illustrated volumes full of +historical information and criticism and containing a complete +classified list of Rembrandt's works—paintings, drawings, and +etchings.</p> + +<p>The "Complete Work of Rembrandt," by Wilhelm Bode, is now issuing from +the press (1899), and will consist of eight volumes containing +reproductions of all the master's pictures, with historical and +descriptive text. It is to be hoped that this mammoth and costly work +will be put into many large reference libraries, where students may +consult it to see Rembrandt's work in its entirety.</p> + +<p>The series of small German monographs edited by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span> H. Knackfuss and now +translated into English has one number devoted to Rembrandt, +containing nearly one hundred and sixty reproductions from his works, +with descriptive text. Kugler's "Handbook of the German, Flemish, and +Dutch Schools," revised by J. A. Crowe, includes a brief account of +Rembrandt's life and work, which may be taken as valuable and +trustworthy. For a critical estimate of the character of Rembrandt's +art, its strength and weaknesses, and its peculiarities, nothing can +be more interesting than what Eugene Fromentin, French painter and +critic, has written in his "Old Masters of Belgium and Holland."</p> + +<p>Rembrandt's etchings have been the exclusive subject of many books. +There are voluminous descriptive catalogues by Bartsch ("Le Peintre +Graveur") Claussin, Wilson, Charles Blanc, Middleton, and Dutuit. A +short monograph on "The Etchings of Rembrandt," by Philip Gilbert +Hamerton (London, 1896), reviews the most famous prints in a very +pleasant way.</p> + +<p>There are valuable prints from the original plates of Rembrandt in the +Harvey D. Parker collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in +the Gray collection of the Fogg Museum at Cambridge, Massachusetts. +Those who are not fortunate enough to have access to original prints +will derive much satisfaction from the complete set of reproductions +published in St. Petersburg (1890) with catalogue by Rovinski, and +from the excellent reproductions of Amand Durand, Paris.</p> + +<p>To come in touch with the spirit of the times and of the country of +Rembrandt, the reader is referred to Motley's "Rise of the Dutch +Republic," condensed and continued by W. E. Griffis.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="sec_3" id="sec_3"></a>III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION</h3> +<p><i>Portrait Frontispiece</i>. National Gallery, London. Signed and dated +1640.</p> + +<p>1. <i>Jacob Wrestling with the Angel</i>. Berlin Gallery. Signed and dated +1659. Figures life size. Size: 4 ft. 5-1/16 in. by 3 ft. 9-5/8 in.</p> + +<p>2. <i>Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph</i>. Cassel Gallery. Signed and +dated 1656. Figures life size. Size: 5 ft. 8-9/16 in. by 6 ft. 6-3/4 +in.</p> + +<p>3. <i>The Angel Raphael Leaving the Family of Tobit</i>. Louvre, Paris. +Signed and dated 1637. Size: 2 ft. 2-13/16 in. by 1 ft. 8-1/2 in.</p> + +<p>4. <i>The Rat Killer</i>. Etching. Signed and dated 1632. Size: 5-1/2 in. +by 4-9/16 in.</p> + +<p>5. <i>The Philosopher in Meditation</i>. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated +1633. Size: 11-7/16 in. by 13 in.</p> + +<p>6. <i>The Good Samaritan</i>. Etching. Signed and dated 1633. Size: 10-1/5 +in. by 8-3/5 in.</p> + +<p>7. <i>The Presentation in the Temple</i>. At the Hague. Signed and dated +1631. Size: 2 ft. 4-11/16 in. by 1 ft. 6-7/8 in.</p> + +<p>8. <i>Christ Preaching</i>. Etching. Date assigned by Michel, about 1652. +Size: 6-1/5 in. by 8-1/5 in.</p> + +<p>9. <i>Christ at Emmaus</i>. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated 1648. Size: 2 +ft. 2-13/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-5/8 in.</p> + +<p>10. <i>Portrait of Saskia</i>. Cassel Gallery. Painted about 1632-1634. +Life size. Size: 3 ft. 2-11/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-3/5 in.</p> + +<p>11. <i>Sortie of the Civic Guard</i>. Ryks Museum (Trippenhuis), Amsterdam. +Signed and dated 1642. Life size figures. Size: 11 ft. 9-3/8 in. by 14 +ft. 3-5/16 in.</p> + +<p>12. <i>Portrait of Jan Six</i>. Etching. Signed and dated 1647. Size: about +9-3/8 in. by 7-3/8 in.</p> + +<p>13. <i>Portrait of an Old Woman</i>. Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg. +Signed and dated 1654. Size: 3 ft. 6-7/8 in. by 2 ft. 9 in.</p> + +<p>14. <i>The Syndics of the Cloth Guild</i>. Ryks Museum (Trip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span>penhuis), +Amsterdam. Signed and dated 1661. Life size figures. Size: 6 ft. 7/8 +in. by 8 ft. 11-15/16 in.</p> + +<p>15. <i>The Three Trees</i>. Etching, 1643. Size: 8-2/5 in. by 11 in.</p> + + +<h3><a name="sec_4" id="sec_4"></a>IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REMBRANDT'S LIFE</h3> +<p>1606.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Rembrandt born in Leyden.</p> + +<p>1621. Rembrandt apprenticed to the painter, Jacob van Swanenburch.</p> + +<p>1624. Rembrandt studied six months with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam.</p> + +<p>1627. Rembrandt's earliest known works, St. Paul in Prison, (Stuttgart +Museum); The Money Changers (Berlin Gallery).</p> + +<p>1631. Rembrandt removed to Amsterdam.</p> + +<p>1631. The Presentation painted.</p> + +<p>1632. The Anatomy Lecture painted.</p> + +<p>1633. The portrait of the Shipbuilder and his Wife painted.</p> + +<p>1634. Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenborch, June 22, in Bildt.</p> + +<p>1635. Rembrandt's son Rombertus baptized December 15. (Died in +infancy.)</p> + +<p>1637. Angel Raphael Leaving Family of Tobit painted.</p> + +<p>1638. Rembrandt's daughter Cornelia born. (Died in early childhood.)</p> + +<p>1639. Rembrandt bought a house in the Joden Breestraat.</p> + +<p>1640. Rembrandt's second daughter born and died.</p> + +<p>1640. Rembrandt's mother died.</p> + +<p>1640. The Carpenter's Household painted.</p> + +<p>1641. Manoah's Prayer painted.</p> + +<p>1641. Rembrandt's son Titus baptized.</p> + +<p>1642. Sortie of the Civic Guard (The Night Watch) painted for the hall +of the Amsterdam Musketeers.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Authorities are not entirely unanimous as to the date of +Rembrandt's birth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span></p></div> + +<p>1642. Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, died.</p> + +<p>1648. Christ at Emmaus painted.</p> + +<p>1649. The Hundred Guilder print etched.</p> + +<p>1651. Christ Appearing to Magdalen painted.</p> + +<p>1652. Christ Preaching etched.</p> + +<p>1656. Rembrandt's bankruptcy.</p> + +<p>1656. Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph painted.</p> + +<p>1661. Portrait of the Syndics painted for the Guild of Drapers, +Amsterdam.</p> + +<p>1668. Rembrandt's son Titus died.</p> + +<p>1669. Rembrandt died.</p> + + +<h3><a name="sec_5" id="sec_5"></a>V. SOME OF REMBRANDT'S FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES IN HOLLAND</h3> +<p>Frederick Henry of Orange, stadtholder, 1625. Princess Amalia of +Solms, wife of Frederick Henry, built the Huis ten Bosch (House in the +Woods) at the Hague, 1647.</p> + +<p>William II of Orange, stadtholder, 1647. In 1650 the stadt-holderate +was suppressed, and John de Witt became in 1653 chief executive of the +republic for twenty years. Murdered in 1672.</p> + +<p>John of Barneveld, Grand Pensioner, "the greatest statesman in all the +history of the Netherlands" (Griffis). Executed May 24, 1619.</p> + +<p>Michael de Ruyter, "the Dutch Nelson," died 1676.</p> + +<p>Marten Harpertzoon von Tromp, admiral. Born 1597; died 1691. (He +defeated the English fleet under Blake.)</p> + +<p>Cornelius Evertsen, admiral.</p> + +<p>Floriszoon, admiral.</p> + +<p>Witte de With, admiral.</p> + +<p>Hendrik Hudson, navigator and discoverer; first voyage, 1607, last +voyage, 1610.</p> + +<p>Captain Zeachen, discoverer.</p> + +<p>Hugo Grotius, father of international law, 1583-1645.</p> + +<p>Jan Six, burgomaster, bibliophile, art connoisseur, and dramatist, +1618-1700.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span></p> + +<p>Spinoza, philosopher, 1622-1677.</p> + +<p>Joost van den Vondel, poet and dramatist, 1587-1679.</p> + +<p>Jacob Cats, Grand Pensionary and poet, 1577-1660.</p> + +<p>Constantine Huyghens, poet.</p> + +<p>Gysbart Voet (Latin, Voetius) 1588-1678, professor of theology at +Utrecht.</p> + +<p>Cornelis Jansen, born 1585. Professor of scripture interpretation at +Louvain.</p> + +<p>Johannes Koch (Latin, Coccejus), 1603-1669, professor of theology at +Leyden and, "after Erasmus, the father of modern Biblical criticism."</p> + +<p>J. van Kampen, architect, built the Het Palais (Royal Palace) in +Amsterdam, 1648.</p> + +<p>Jansz Vinckenbrink, sculptor.</p> + +<p>Hendrik de Keyser, sculptor.</p> + +<p>Crabeth brothers, designers of stained glass.</p> + +<p><b>Painters:—</b></p> + +<ul> + +<li>Franz Hals, 1584-1666.</li> + +<li>Gerard Honthorst, 1590-1656.</li> + +<li>Albert Cuyp, 1605-1691.</li> + +<li>Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656.</li> + +<li>Jacob Ruysdael, 1625-1682.</li> + +<li>Paul Potter, 1625-1654.</li> + +<li>Jan Lievens, born 1607; died after 1672.</li> + +<li>Salomon Koning, 1609-1668.</li> + +<li>Gerard Terburg, 1608-1681.</li> + +<li>Nicolas Berghem, 1620-1683.</li> + +<li>Jan Steen, 1626-1679.</li> + +<li>Adrian van Ostade, 1610-1685.</li> + +<li>Rembrandt's pupils:—</li> + +<li>Ferdinand Bol, 1616-1680.</li> + +<li>Govert Flinck, 1615-1660.</li> + +<li>Van den Eeckhont, 1620-1674.</li> + +<li>Gerard Don, 1613-1680.</li> + +<li>Nicolas Maes, 1632-1693.</li> + +<li>Juriaen Ovens, 1623.</li> + +<li>Hendrick Heerschop, born 1620, entered Rembrandt's studio, 1644.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span></li> + +<li>Carl Fabritius, 1624-1654.</li> + +<li>Samuel van Hoogstraaten, born 1627, with Rembrandt, 1640-1650.</li> + +<li>Aert de Gelder, 1645-1727.</li></ul> + +<p>Less important names: Jan van Glabbeck, Jacobus Levecq, Heyman +Dullaert, Johan Hendricksen, Adriaen Verdael, Cornelis Drost.</p> + + +<h3><a name="sec_6" id="sec_6"></a>VI. FOREIGN CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS</h3> +<p><b>Flemish:—</b></p> + +<ul> +<li>Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640.</li> + +<li>Anthony Van Dyck, 1599-1641.</li> + +<li>Jacob Jordaens, 1594-1678.</li> + +<li>Franz Snyders, 1574-1657.</li> + +<li>Gaspard de Craeyer, 1582-1669.</li> + +<li>David Teniers, 1610-1690.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>Spanish:—</b></p> + +<ul> +<li>Velasquez, 1599-1660.</li> + +<li>Pacheco, 1571-1654.</li> + +<li>Cano, 1601-1676.</li> + +<li>Herrera, 1576-1656.</li> + +<li>Zurbaran, 1598-1662.</li> + +<li>Murillo, 1618-1682.</li></ul> + + +<p><b>French:—</b></p> + +<ul> +<li>Simon Vouet, 1582-1641.</li> + +<li>Charles Le Brun, 1619-1690.</li> + +<li>Eustache Le Sueur, 1617-1655.</li> + +<li>Italian:—</li> + +<li>Carlo Dolci, 1616-1686.</li> + +<li>Guido Reni, 1575-1642.</li> + +<li>Domenichino, 1581-1641.</li> + +<li>Francesco Albani, 1578-1660.</li> + +<li>Guercino, 1591-1666.</li> + +<li>Sassoferrato, 1605-1685.</li></ul> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL</h3> + + +<p>The history of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob reads like a romance. +He was the younger of the two sons of Isaac, and was at a great +disadvantage on this account. Among his people the eldest son always +became the family heir and also received the choicest blessing from +the father, a privilege coveted as much as wealth. In this case +therefore the privileged son was Jacob's brother Esau. Jacob resented +keenly the inequality of his lot; and his mother sympathized with him, +as he was her favorite. A feeling of enmity grew up between the +brothers, and in the end Jacob did Esau a great wrong.</p> + +<p>One day Esau came in from hunting, nearly starved, and finding his +younger brother cooking some lentils, begged a portion of it for +himself. Jacob seized the chance to make a sharp bargain. He offered +his brother the food—which is called in the quaint Bible language a +"mess of pottage"—making him promise in return that he would let +their father give his blessing to the younger instead of the older +son. Esau was a careless fellow, too hungry to think what he was +saying, and so readily yielded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + +<p>But though Esau might sell his birthright in this fashion, the father +would not have been willing to give the blessing to the younger son, +had it not been for a trick planned by the mother. The old man was +nearly blind, and knew his sons apart by the touch of their skin, as +Esau had a rough, hairy skin and Jacob a smooth one. The mother put +skins of kids upon Jacob's hands and neck and bade him go to his +father pretending to be Esau, and seek his blessing. The trick was +successful, and when a little later Esau himself came to his father on +the same errand, he found that he had been superseded. Naturally he +was very angry, and vowed vengeance on his brother. Jacob, fearing for +his life, fled into a place called Padanaram.</p> + +<p>In this place he became a prosperous cattle farmer and grew very rich. +He married there also and had a large family of children. After +fourteen years he bethought himself of his brother Esau and the great +wrong he had done him. He resolved to remove his family to his old +home, and to be reconciled with his brother. Hardly daring to expect +to be favorably received, he sent in advance a large number of cattle +in three droves as a gift to Esau. Then he awaited over night some +news or message from his brother. In the night a strange adventure +befell him. This is the way the story is told in the book of +Genesis.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Genesis, chapter xxxii. verses 24-31.</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_2" id="pic_2"></a> + <a href="images/image_02_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_02.jpg" width="450" height="538" alt="JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL Berlin Gallery" title="JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL Berlin Gallery" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL<br /> + Berlin Gallery</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_02_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>"There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when +he saw that he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of +his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he +wrestled with him. And he said, 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' And +he said, 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,' And he said +unto him, 'What is thy name?' And he said, 'Jacob,' And he said, 'Thy +name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast +thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.'... And he +blessed him there.</p> + +<p>"And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God +face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel, +the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh;" that is, he +walked halt, or lame.</p> + +<p>The crisis in Jacob's life was passed, for hardly had he set forth on +this morning when he saw his brother whom he had wronged advancing +with four hundred men to meet him. "And Esau ran to meet him, and +embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him: and they wept."</p> + +<p>So were the brothers reconciled.</p> + +<p>The picture represents Jacob wrestling with his mysterious adversary. +We have seen from his history how determined he was to have his own +way, and how he wrested worldly prosperity even from misfortunes. Now +he is equally determined in this higher and more spiritual conflict. +It is a very real struggle, and Jacob has prevailed only by putting +forth his utmost energy. It is the moment when the grand angel, +pressing one knee into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> hollow of Jacob's left thigh and laying +his hand on his right side, looks into his face and grants the +blessing demanded as a condition for release. Strong and tender is his +gaze, and the gift he bestows is a new name, in token of the new +character of brotherly love of which this victory is the beginning.</p> + +<p>The story of St. Michael and the Dragon, which Raphael has painted, +stands for the everlasting conflict between good and evil in the +world. There is a like meaning in the story of Jacob's wrestling with +the angel. The struggle is in the human heart between selfish impulses +and higher ideals. The day when one can hold on to the good angel long +enough to win a blessing, is the day which begins a new chapter in a +man's life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH</h3> + + +<p>When Jacob wrestled with the angel he received a new name, Israel, or +a prince, a champion of God.</p> + +<p>Israel became the founder of the great Israelite nation, and from his +twelve sons grew up the twelve tribes of Israel, among whom was +distributed the country now called Palestine. Among these sons the +father's favorite was Joseph, who was next to the youngest. This +favoritism aroused the anger and jealousy of the older brothers, and +they plotted to get rid of him. One day when they were all out with +some flocks in a field quite distant from their home, they thought +they were rid forever of the hated Joseph by selling him to a company +of men who were journeying to Egypt. Then they dipped the lad's coat +in goat's blood and carried it to Israel, who, supposing his son to +have been devoured by a wild beast, mourned him as dead.</p> + +<p>When Joseph had grown to manhood in Egypt, a singular chain of +circumstances brought the brothers together again. There was a sore +famine, and Egypt was the headquarters for the sale of corn. Joseph +had shown himself so able and trustworthy that he was given charge of +selling and distributing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> the stores of food. So when Israel's older +sons came from their home to Egypt to buy corn they had to apply to +Joseph, whom they little suspected of being the brother they had so +cruelly wronged. There is a pretty story, too long to repeat here, of +how Joseph disclosed himself to his astonished brethren, and forgave +them their cruelty, how he sent for his father to come to Egypt to +live near him, how there was a joyful reunion, and how "they all lived +happily ever after."</p> + +<p>When the time drew near for Israel to die, he desired to bestow his +last blessing on his sons. And first of all his beloved son Joseph +brought him his own two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh.</p> + +<p>Now according to the traditions of the patriarchs, it was the eldest +son who should receive the choicest blessing from his father. Israel, +however, had found among his own sons that it was a younger one, +Joseph, who had proved himself the most worthy of love. This may have +shaken his faith in the wisdom of the old custom. Perhaps, too, he +remembered how his own boyhood had been made unhappy because he was +the younger son, and how he had on that account been tempted to +deceit.</p> + +<p>Whatever the reason, he surprised Joseph at the last moment by showing +a preference for the younger of the two grandsons, Ephraim, expressing +this preference by laying the right hand, instead of the left, on his +head. The blessing was spoken in these solemn words: "God, before whom +my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>me all my +life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, +bless the lads."</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="pic_3" id="pic_3"></a> + <a href="images/image_03_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_03.jpg" width="600" height="388" alt="ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH Cassel Gallery" title="ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH Cassel Gallery" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH<br /> + Cassel Gallery</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_03_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>The narrative relates<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> that "When Joseph saw that his father laid +his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he +held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto +Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, 'Not so, my father: +for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.' And his +father refused, and said, 'I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall +become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger +brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a +multitude of nations.' And he blessed them that day, saying, 'In thee +shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim, and as +Manasseh;' and he set Ephraim before Manasseh."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Genesis, chapter xlviii. verses 17-20.</p></div> + +<p>As we compare the picture with the story, it is easy to identify the +figures. We are naturally interested in Joseph as the hero of so many +romantic adventures. As a high Egyptian official, he makes a dignified +appearance and wears a rich turban. His face is gentle and amiable, as +we should expect of a loving son and forgiving brother.</p> + +<p>In the old man we see the same Jacob who wrestled by night with the +Angel and was redeemed from his life of selfishness. The same strong +face is here, softened by sorrow and made tender by love. The years +have cut deep lines of character in the forehead, and the flowing +beard has become snowy white.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p><p>The dying patriarch has "strengthened himself," to sit up on the bed +for his last duty, and his son Joseph supports him. The children kneel +together by the bedside, the little Ephraim bending his fair head +humbly to receive his grandfather's right hand, Manasseh looking up +alertly, almost resentfully, as he sees that hand passing over his own +head to his brother's. Joseph's wife Asenath, the children's mother, +stands beyond, looking on musingly. We see that it is a moment of very +solemn interest to all concerned. Though the patriarch's eyes are dim +and his hand trembles, his old determined spirit makes itself +manifest. Joseph is in perplexity between his filial respect and his +solicitude for his first-born. He puts his fingers gently under his +father's wrist, trying to lift the hand to the other head. The mother +seems to smile as if well content. Perhaps she shares the +grandfather's preference for little Ephraim.</p> + +<p>The picture is a study in the three ages of man, childhood, manhood, +and old age, brought together by the most tender and sacred ties of +human life, in the circle of the family.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT</h3> + + +<p>The story of Tobit is found in what is called the Apocrypha, that is, +a collection of books written very much in the manner of the Bible, +and formerly bound in Bibles between the Old and the New Testament.</p> + +<p>The story goes that when Enemessar, King of Assyria, conquered the +people of Israel, he led away many of them captive into Assyria, among +them the family of Tobit, his wife Anna, and their son Tobias. They +settled in Nineveh, and Tobit, being an honest man, was made purveyor +to the king. That is, it was his business to provide food for the +king's household.</p> + +<p>In this office he was able to lay up a good deal of money, which he +placed for safe keeping in the hands of Gabael, an Israelite who lived +at Rages in Media. Tobit was a generous man, and he did many kind +deeds for his less fortunate fellow exiles; he delighted in feeding +the hungry and clothing the naked.</p> + +<p>When Sennacherib was king of Assyria, many Jews were slain and left +lying in the street, and Tobit, finding their neglected bodies, buried +them secretly. One night, after some such deed of mercy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> a sad +affliction befell him. White films came over his eyes, causing total +blindness. In his distress he prayed that he might die, and began to +make preparations for death. He called his son Tobias to him and gave +him much good advice as to his manner of life, and then desired him to +go to Rages to obtain the money left there with Gabael. But Tobias +must first seek a guide for the journey. "Therefore," says the story, +"when he went to seek a man, he found Raphael that was an angel. But +he knew not; and he said unto him, 'Canst thou go with me to Rages? +and knowest thou those places well?' To whom the angel said, 'I will +go with thee, and I know the way well: for I have lodged with our +brother Gabael,'" The angel gave himself the name Azarias. "So they +went forth both, and the young man's dog with them."</p> + +<p>"As they went on their journey, they came in the evening to the river +Tigris, and they lodged there. And when the young man went down to +wash himself, a fish leaped out of the river, and would have devoured +him. Then the angel said unto him, 'Take the fish,' And the young man +laid hold of the fish, and drew it to land. To whom the angel said, +'Open the fish and take the gall, and put it up safely.' So the young +man did as the angel commanded him, and when they had roasted the +fish, they did eat it: then they both went on their way, till they +drew near to Ecbatane. Then the young man said to the angel, 'Brother +Azarias, to what use is the gall of the fish?' And he said unto him, +'It is good to anoint a man that hath whiteness in his eyes, and he +shall be healed.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_4" id="pic_4"></a> + <a href="images/image_04_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_04.jpg" width="450" height="593" alt="THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT The +Louvre, Paris" title="THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT The Louvre, Paris" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT<br /> +The Louvre, Paris</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_04_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<p>After this curious incident there were no further adventures till they +came to Ecbatane. Here they lodged with Raguel, a kinsman of Tobit, +and when Tobias saw Sara, the daughter, he loved her and determined to +make her his wife. He therefore tarried fourteen days at Ecbatane, +sending Azarias on to Rages for the money. This delay lengthened the +time allotted for the journey, but at last the company drew near to +Nineveh,—Azarias or Raphael, and Tobias, with the bride, the +treasure, and the precious fishgall. Raphael then gave Tobias +directions to use the gall for his father's eyes. Their arrival was +the cause of great excitement. "Anna ran forth, and fell upon the neck +of her son. Tobit also went forth toward the door, and stumbled: but +his son ran unto him, and took hold of his father: and he strake of +the gall on his father's eyes, saying, 'Be of good hope, my father.' +And when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them; and the whiteness +pilled away from the corners of his eyes: and when he saw his son, he +fell upon his neck."</p> + +<p>Now Tobit and Tobias were full of gratitude to Azarias for all that he +had done for them, and, consulting together as to how they could +reward him, decided to give him half the treasure. So the old man +called the angel, and said, "Take half of all that ye have brought, +and go away in safety." Then Raphael took them both apart, and said +unto them, "Bless God, praise him, and magnify him, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> praise him +for the things which he hath done unto you in the sight of all that +live."</p> + +<p>With this solemn introduction the angel goes on to tell Tobit that he +had been with him when he had buried his dead countrymen, and that his +good deeds were not hid from him, and that his prayers were +remembered. He concludes by showing who he really is.</p> + +<p>"I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers +of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy +One."</p> + +<p>"Then they were both troubled, and fell upon their faces: for they +feared God. But he said unto them, 'Fear not, for it shall go well +with you; praise God therefore. For not of any favor of mine, but by +the will of our God I came; wherefore praise him for ever. All these +days I did appear unto you; but I did neither eat nor drink, but ye +did see a vision. Now therefore give God thanks: for I go up to him +that sent me.'" "And when they arose, they saw him no more."</p> + +<p>The picture shows us the moment when the angel suddenly rises from the +midst of the little company and strikes out on his flight through the +air like a strong swimmer. Tobit and Tobias fall on their knees +without, while Anna and the bride Sara stand in the open door with the +frightened little dog cowering beside them. The older people are +overcome with wonder and awe, but Tobias and Sara, more bold, follow +the radiant vision with rapturous gaze.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE RAT KILLER</h3> + + +<p>The pictures we have examined thus far in this collection have been +reproductions from Rembrandt's paintings. You will see at once that +the picture of the Rat Killer is of another kind. The figures and +objects are indicated by lines instead of by masses of color. You +would call it a drawing, and it is in fact a drawing of one kind, but +properly speaking, an etching. An etching is a drawing made on copper +by means of a needle. The etcher first covers the surface of the metal +with a layer of some waxy substance and draws his picture through this +coating, or "etching ground," as it is called. Next he immerses the +copper plate in an acid bath which "bites," or grooves, the metal +along the lines he has drawn without affecting the parts protected by +the etching ground.</p> + +<p>The plate thus has a picture cut into its surface, and impressions of +this picture may be taken by filling the lines with ink and pressing +wet paper to the surface of the plate. You will notice that the +difference between the work of an engraver and that of an etcher is +that the former cuts the lines in his plate with engraving tools, +while the latter only draws his picture on the plate and the acid cuts +the lines.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> The word etching is derived from the Dutch <i>etzen</i>, and +the most famous etchers in the world have been among Dutch and German +artists.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_5" id="pic_5"></a> + <a href="images/image_05_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_05.jpg" width="450" height="517" alt="THE RAT KILLER Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" title="THE RAT KILLER Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">THE RAT KILLER<br /> +Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_05_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern image</a></p> + +<p>Rembrandt is easily first of these, and we should have but a limited +idea of his work if we did not examine some of his pictures of this +kind. Impressions made directly from the original plates, over two +centuries ago, are, of course, very rare and valuable, and are +carefully preserved in the great libraries and museums of the world. +There is a collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where this +etching of the Rat Killer may be seen.</p> + +<p>The Rat Killer is one of many subjects from the scenes of common life +which surrounded the artist. In smaller towns and villages, then as +well as now, there were no large shops where goods were to be bought. +Instead, all sorts of peddlers and traveling mechanics went from house +to house—the knife grinder, the ragman, the fiddler, and many others. +This picture of the Rat Killer suggests a very odd occupation. The +pest of rats is, of course, much greater in old than in new countries. +In Europe, and perhaps particularly in the northern countries of +Holland and Germany, the old towns and villages have long been +infested with these troublesome creatures.</p> + + + +<p>There are some curious legends about them. One relates how a certain +Bishop Hatto, as a judgment for his sins, was attacked by an army of +rats which swam across the Rhine and invaded him in his island tower, +where they made short work of their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>victim.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Another tells how a +town called Hamelin was overrun with rats until a magic piper appeared +who so charmed them with his enchanted music that they gathered about +him and followed his leading till they came to the river and were +drowned.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See Southey's poem, Bishop Hatto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> See Browning's poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin.</p></div> + +<p>The old Rat Killer in the picture looks suspiciously like a magician. +It seems as if he must have bewitched the rats which crawl friskily +about him, one perching on his shoulders. He reminds one of some ogre +out of a fairy tale, with his strange tall cap, his kilted coat, and +baggy trousers, the money pouch at his belt, the fur mantle flung over +one shoulder, and the fierce-looking sword dangling at his side. But +there is no magic in his way of killing rats. He has some rat poison +to sell which his apprentice, a miserable little creature, carries in +a large box.</p> + +<p>The picture gives us an idea of an old Dutch village street. The +cottages are built very low, with steep overhanging roofs. The walls +are of thick masonry, for these were days when in small villages and +outlying districts "every man's house was his castle," that is, every +man's house was intended, first of all, as a place of defense against +outlawry.</p> + +<p>The entrance doors were made in two sections, an upper and a lower +part, or wing, each swinging on its own hinges. Whenever a knock came, +the householder could open the upper wing and address <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>the caller as +through a window, first learning who he was and what his errand, +before opening the lower part to admit him. Thus an unwelcome intruder +could not press his way into the house by the door's being opened at +his knock, and the family need not be taken unawares. In many of our +modern houses we see doors made after the same plan, and known as +"Dutch doors."</p> + +<p>The cautious old man in the picture has no intention of being imposed +upon by wandering fakirs. He has opened only the upper door and leans +on the lower wing, as on a gate, while he listens to the Rat Killer's +story. The latter must have a marvellous tale to tell of the effects +of the poison, from the collection of dead rats which he carries as +trophies in the basket fastened to the long pole in his hand. But the +householder impatiently pushes his hand back, and turns away as if +with disgust. The apprentice, grotesque little rat himself, looks up +rather awestruck at this grand, turbaned figure above him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION</h3> + + +<p>Ever since the beginning of human history there have been people who +puzzled their brains about the reasons of things. Why things are as +they are, whence we came, and whither we are going are some of the +perplexing questions they have tried to answer. Some men have given +all their lives to the study of these problems as a single occupation +or profession. Among the ancient Greeks, who were a very intellectual +nation, such men were quite numerous and were held in great esteem as +teachers. They were called philosophers, that is, lovers of wisdom, +and this word has been passed down to our own times in various modern +languages.</p> + +<p>In the passing of the centuries men found more and more subjects to +think about. Some studied the movements of the stars and tried to +discover if they had any influence in human affairs. These men were +called astrologers, and they drew plans, known as horoscopes, mapping +out the future destiny of persons as revealed by the position of the +constellations. There were other men who examined the various +substances of which the earth is composed, putting them together to +make new things. These were alchemists, and their great ambition was +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> find some preparation which would change baser metals into gold. +This hoped-for preparation was spoken of as the "philosopher's stone."</p> + +<p>Now modern learning has changed these vague experiments into exact +science; astronomy has replaced astrology, and chemistry has taken the +place of alchemy. Nevertheless these changes were brought about only +very gradually, and in the 17th century, when Rembrandt lived and +painted this picture, a great stir was made by the new ideas of +astronomy taught by Galileo in Italy, and the new discoveries in +chemistry made by Van Helmont in Belgium. Many philosophers still held +to the old beliefs of astrology and alchemy.</p> + +<p>It is not likely that Rembrandt had any one philosopher in mind as the +subject of his picture. That his philosopher is something of a +scholar, we judge from the table at which he sits, littered with +writing materials. Yet he seems to care less for reading than for +thinking, as he sits with hands clasped in his lap and his head sunk +upon his breast. He wears a loose, flowing garment like a +dressing-gown, and his bald head is protected by a small skull cap. +His is an ideal place for a philosopher's musings. The walls are so +thick that they shut out all the confusing noise of the world. A +single window lets in light enough to read by through its many tiny +panes. It is a bare little room, to be sure, with its ungarnished +walls and stone-paved floor, but if a philosopher has the ordinary +needs of life supplied he wants no luxuries. He asks for nothing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>more than quiet and uninterrupted leisure in which to pursue his +meditations.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_6" id="pic_6"></a> + <a href="images/image_06_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_06.jpg" width="500" height="373" alt="THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION The Louvre, Paris" title="THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION The Louvre, Paris" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION<br /> +The Louvre, Paris</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_06_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>Our philosopher is well taken care of; for while his thoughts are on +higher things and eternal truths, an old woman is busy at the fire in +the corner. Evidently she looks after the material and temporal things +of life. She kneels on the hearth and hangs a kettle over the cheerful +blaze. The firelight glows on her face and gleams here and there on +the brasses hanging in the chimney-piece above. Here is promise of +something good to come, and when the philosopher is roused from his +musings there will be a hot supper ready for him.</p> + +<p>There are two mysteries in the room which arouse our curiosity. In the +wall behind the philosopher's chair is a low, arched door heavily +built with large hinges. Does this lead to some subterranean cavern, +and what secret does it contain? Is it a laboratory where, with +alembic and crucible, the philosopher searches the secrets of alchemy +and tries to find the "philosopher's stone?" Is some hid treasure +stored up there, as precious and as hard to reach as the hidden truths +the philosopher tries to discover?</p> + +<p>At the right side of the room a broad, winding staircase rises in +large spirals and disappears in the gloom above. We follow it with +wondering eyes which try to pierce the darkness and see whither it +leads. Perhaps there is an upper chamber with windows open to the sky +whence the philosopher studies the stars. This place with its winding +staircase would be just such an observatory as an astro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>loger would +like. Indeed it suggests at once the tower on the hillside near +Florence where Galileo passed his declining years.</p> + +<p>Our philosopher, too, is an old man; his hair has been whitened by +many winters, his face traced over with many lines of thought. Even if +his problems have not all been solved he has found rich satisfaction +in his thinking; the end of his meditations is peace. The day is +drawing to a close. The waning light falls through the window and +illumines the philosopher's venerable face. It throws the upper spiral +of the stairway into bold relief, and brings out all the beautiful +curves in its structure. The bare little room is transfigured. This is +indeed a fit dwelling-place for a philosopher whose thoughts, +penetrating dark mysteries, are at last lighted by some gleams of the +ideal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE GOOD SAMARITAN</h3> + + +<p>The story of the Good Samaritan was related by Jesus to a certain +lawyer as a parable, that is, a story to teach a moral lesson. The +object was to show what was true neighborly conduct; and this was the +story:—<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among +thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and +departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a +certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the +other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and +looked on him, and passed by on the other side.</p> + +<p>"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when +he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up +his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and +brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he +departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said +unto him, 'Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I +come again I will repay thee.'"</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> St. Luke, chapter x. verses 30-37.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p></div> + +<p>The point of the story is very plain, and when Jesus asked the lawyer +which one of the three passers-by was a neighbor to the wounded man, +he was forced to reply, "He that shewed mercy." Then said Jesus +simply, "Go, and do thou likewise."</p> + +<p>Though the scene of the story is laid in Palestine, it is the sort of +incident which one can imagine taking place in any country or period +of time. So it seems perfectly proper that Rembrandt, in representing +the subject, should show us an old Dutch scene. The etching +illustrates that moment when the Good Samaritan arrives at the inn, +followed by the wounded traveler mounted on his horse.</p> + +<p>The building is a quaint piece of architecture with arched doors and +windows. That it was built with an eye to possible attacks from +thieves and outlaws, we may see from the small windows and thick walls +of masonry, which make it look like a miniature fortress. This is a +lonely spot, and inns are few and far between. The plaster is cracking +and crumbling from the surface, and the whole appearance of the place +does not betoken great thrift on the part of the owners. On the +present occasion, during the working hours of the day, doors and +windows are open after the hospitable manner of an inn.</p> + +<p>The host stands in the doorway, greeting the strangers, and the Good +Samaritan is explaining the situation to him. In the mean time the inn +servants have come forward: the hostler's boy holds the horse by the +bridle, while a man lifts off the wounded traveler.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_7" id="pic_7"></a> + <a href="images/image_07_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_07.jpg" width="450" height="555" alt="THE GOOD SAMARITAN Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" title="THE GOOD SAMARITAN Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">THE GOOD SAMARITAN<br /> +Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_07_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern image</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>About the dooryard are the usual signs of life. In the rear a woman +draws water from a well, lowering the bucket from the end of a long +well-sweep, heedless of the stir about the door. Fowl scratch about in +search of food, and there is a dog at one side. Some one within looks +with idle curiosity from the window into the yard. It is little +touches like these which give the scene such vividness and reality.</p> + +<p>There is also a remarkable expressiveness in the figures which tells +the story at a glance. You can see just what the Good Samaritan is +saying, as he gestures with his left hand, and you can guess the +inn-keeper's reply. Already he has put the proffered money into the +wallet he carries at his belt, and listens attentively to the orders +given him. He may privately wonder at his guest's singular kindness to +a stranger, but with him business is business, and his place is to +carry out his guest's wishes.</p> + +<p>You see how the hostler's boy magnifies his office, swaggering with +legs wide apart. Even the feather in his cap bristles with importance. +This bit of comedy contrasts with the almost tragic expression of the +wounded man. The stolid fellow who lifts him seems to hurt him very +much, and he clasps his hands in an agony of pain. He seems to be +telling the gentleman at the window of his recent misfortune.</p> + +<p>To study the picture more critically, it will be interesting to notice +how the important figures are massed together in the centre, and how +the compo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>sition is built into a pyramid. Draw a line from the +inn-keeper's head down the stairway at the left, and follow the +outline of the Good Samaritan's right shoulder along the body of the +wounded traveler, and you have the figure. This pyramidal form is +emphasized again by the wainscot of the stairway at the left, and the +well-sweep at the right.</p> + +<p>To appreciate fully the character of the etching, one must examine +attentively all the different kinds of lines which produce the varying +effects of light and shadow. Below the picture Rembrandt wrote his +name and the date 1633, with two Latin words meaning that he designed +and etched the plate himself. This would seem to show that he was well +pleased with his work, and it is interesting to learn that the great +German poet, Goethe, admired the composition extravagantly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE</h3> + + +<p>The story which the picture of the Presentation illustrates is a story +of the infancy of Jesus Christ. According to the custom of the Jews at +that time, every male child was "presented," or dedicated, to the Lord +when about a month old. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa, a small +town about four miles from the city of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, +where the temple was. When he was about a month old, his mother Mary +and her husband Joseph, who were devout Jews, brought him to the great +city for the ceremony of the presentation in the temple. Now the +temple was a great place of worship where many religious ceremonies +were taking place all the time.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily, a party coming up from the country for some religious +observance would not attract any special attention among the +worshippers. But on the day when the infant Jesus was presented in the +temple, a very strange thing occurred. The evangelist St. Luke<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +relates the circumstances.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> St. Luke, chapter ii. verses 25-35.</p></div> + +<p>"And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and +the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of +Israel: and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him +by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death, before he had seen the +Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the +parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of +the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, +Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared +before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the +glory of thy people Israel.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_8" id="pic_8"></a> + <a href="images/image_08_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_08.jpg" width="450" height="627" alt="THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE The Hague Gallery" title="THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE The Hague Gallery" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE<br /> +The Hague Gallery</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_08_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>"And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken +of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold +this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and +for a sign which shall be spoken against; that the thought of many +hearts may be revealed."</p> + + + +<p>In the picture we find ourselves, as it were, among the worshippers in +the temple, looking at the group on the pavement in front of us—Mary +and Joseph and Simeon, kneeling before a priest, with two or three +onlookers. It is a Gothic cathedral, in whose dim recesses many people +move hither and thither. At the right is a long flight of steps +leading to a throne, which is overshadowed by a huge canopy. At the +top of the steps we see the high priest seated with hands +outstretched, receiving the people who throng up the stairway. It was +towards this stairway that Mary and Joseph were making their way, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>when the aged Simeon first saw them, and recognized in the child +they carried the one he had long expected. Taking the babe from his +mother's arms, he kneels on the marble-tiled pavement and raises his +face to heaven in thanksgiving. His embroidered cymar, or robe, falls +about him in rich folds as he clasps his arms about the tiny swaddled +figure.</p> + +<p>Mary has dropped on her knees beside him, listening to his words with +happy wonder. Joseph, just beyond, looks on with an expression of +inquiry. He carries two turtle doves as the thank offering required of +the mother by the religious law. His unkempt appearance and bare feet +contrast with the neat dress of Mary. The tall priest standing before +them extends his hands towards the group in a gesture of benediction. +A broad ray of light gleams on his strange headdress, lights up his +outstretched hand, and falls with dazzling brilliancy upon the soft +round face of the babe, the smiling mother, and the venerable Simeon +with flowing white hair and beard.</p> + +<p>There are but few people to pay any heed to the strange incident. Two +or three of those who climb the stairway turn about and stare +curiously at the group below. There are three others still more +interested. One man behind puts his turbaned head over Simeon's +shoulders, peering inquisitively at the child, as if trying to see +what the old man finds so remarkable in him. Beyond, two old beggars +approach with a sort of good-natured interest. They are quaintly +dressed, one of them wearing a very tall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> cap. Such humble folk as +these alone seem to have time to notice others' affairs.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that this scene very closely represents the +actual event it illustrates. The painter Rembrandt knew nothing about +the architecture of the old Jewish temple destroyed many centuries +before. A Gothic cathedral was the finest house of worship known to +him, so he thought out the scene as it would look in such +surroundings. The people coming and going were such as he saw about +him daily; the beggars looking at the Christ-child were the beggars of +Amsterdam, and the men seated in the wooden settle at the right were +like the respectable Dutch burghers of his acquaintance. It was like +translating the story from Aramaic to Dutch, but in the process +nothing is lost of its original touching beauty.</p> + +<p>In studying the picture, you must notice how carefully all the figures +are painted, even the very small ones in the darkest parts of the +composition. The beautiful contrast, between the light on the central +group and the soft dimness of the remoter parts of the cathedral, +illustrates a style of work for which Rembrandt was very famous, and +which we shall often see in his pictures.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>CHRIST PREACHING</h3> + + +<p>We read in the evangelists' record of the life of Jesus that he went +about the country preaching the gospel (or the good news) of the +kingdom of Heaven. Sometimes he preached in the synagogue on the +Sabbath day; but more often he talked to the people in the open air, +sometimes on the mountain-side, sometimes on the shore of the lake +Gennesaret, or again in the streets of their towns.</p> + +<p>The scribes and Pharisees were jealous of his popularity, and angry +because he exposed their hypocrisy. The proud and rich found many of +his sayings too hard to accept. So it was the poor and unhappy who +were most eager to hear him, and they often formed a large part of his +audience. Jesus himself rejoiced in this class of followers, and when +John the Baptist's messengers came to him to inquire into his mission, +he sent back the message, "The poor have the gospel preached to them."</p> + +<p>In this picture of Christ Preaching, we see that his hearers are of +just the kind that the preacher's message is intended for,—the weary +and heavy-laden whom he called to himself. There are a few dignitaries +in the gathering, it is true, standing pompously by in the hope of +finding something to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> criticise. But Jesus pays no attention to them +as he looks down into the faces of the listeners who most need his +words. His pulpit is a square coping-stone in a courtyard, and the +people gather about him in a circle in the positions most convenient +to them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_9" id="pic_9"></a> + <a href="images/image_09_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_09.jpg" width="500" height="367" alt="CHRIST PREACHING Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" title="CHRIST PREACHING Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">CHRIST PREACHING<br /> +Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_09_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern image</a></p> + + +<p>There is no formality here, no ceremony; each one may come and go as +he pleases. Here is a mother sitting on the ground directly in front +of the speaker, holding a babe in her arms, while a little fellow +sprawls out on the ground beside her, drawing on the sand with his +finger. Though we cannot see her face, we know that she is an absorbed +listener, and Jesus seems to speak directly to her.</p> + +<p>A pathetic-looking man beyond her is trying to take in the message in +a wondering way, and a long-bearded man behind him is so aroused that +he leans eagerly forward to catch every word. There are others, as is +always the case, who listen very stolidly as if quite indifferent.</p> + +<p>Again there are two who ponder the subject thoughtfully. One of these +is in the rear,—a young man, perhaps one of Jesus' disciples; the +other sits in front, crossing his legs, and supporting his chin with +his hand. In the group at the right of Jesus we can easily pick out +the scoffers and critics, listening intently, some of them more +interested, perhaps, than they had expected to be.</p> + + +<p>As we look at Jesus himself, so gentle and tender, raising both hands +as if to bless the company, we feel sure that he is speaking some +message of comfort. One day when he was reading the Scriptures <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>in +the synagogue at Capernaum, he selected a passage which described his +own work, and which perfectly applies to this picture. We can imagine +that he is saying: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the +Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath +sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the +captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to +proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of +our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in +Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, +the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."</p> + +<p>It is a noticeable fact that the figures in this picture of Christ +preaching are Dutch types. If you think that this is a strange way to +illustrate scenes which took place in Palestine many centuries ago, +you must remember that the picture was drawn by a Dutchman who knew +nothing of Palestine, and indeed little of any country outside his own +Holland. He wished to make the life of Christ seem real and vivid to +his own countrymen; and the only way he could do this was to represent +the scenes in the surroundings most familiar to himself and to them. +The artist was simply trying to imagine what Jesus would do if he had +come to Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, instead of to Jerusalem +in the first century; somewhat as certain modern writers have tried to +think what would take place "If Jesus came to Chicago," or "If Jesus +came to Boston," in the nineteenth cen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>tury. The sweet gentleness in +the face of Christ and the eager attention of the people show how well +Rembrandt understood the real meaning of the New Testament.</p> + +<p>This picture is worthy of very special study because it is reckoned by +critics one of the best of Rembrandt's etchings. One enthusiastic +writer<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> says that "the full maturity of his genius is expressed in +every feature." One must know a great deal about the technical +processes of etching to appreciate fully all these excellencies; but +even an inexperienced eye can see how few and simple are the lines +which produce such striking effects of light and shadow: a scratch or +two here, a few parallel lines drawn diagonally there; some coarse +cross-hatching in one place, closer hatching in another; now and then +a spot of the black ink itself,—and the whole scene is made alive, +with Jesus standing in the midst, the light gleaming full upon his +figure.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Michel.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>CHRIST AT EMMAUS</h3> + + +<p>The picture of Christ at Emmaus illustrates an event in the narrative +of Christ's life which took place on the evening of the first Easter +Sunday. It was now three days since the Crucifixion of Christ just +outside Jerusalem, and the terrible scene was still very fresh in the +minds of his disciples. It happened that late in the day two of them +were going to a village called Emmaus, not very far from Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>They made the journey on foot, and as they walked along the way, "they +talked together," says the evangelist<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> who tells the story, "of all +those things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they +communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with +them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he +said unto them, 'What manner of communications are these that ye have +one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?' And the one of them, whose +name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, 'Art thou only a stranger +in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass +there in these days?' And he said unto them, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>'What things?' And they +said unto him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth.'" Then followed a +conversation in which they told the stranger something of Jesus, and +he in turn explained to them many things about the life and character +of Jesus which they had never understood.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> St. Luke, chapter xxiv. verses 13-32.</p></div> + +<p>"And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made +as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, +saying, 'Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far +spent.' And he went in to tarry with them.</p> + +<p>"And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and +blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened +and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said +one to another, 'Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked +with us by the way?'"</p> + +<p>The picture suggests vividly to us that wonderful moment at Emmaus +when the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognized their +guest as Jesus, whom they had so recently seen crucified. The table is +laid in a great bare room with the commonest furnishings, and the +disciples appear to be laboring men, accustomed to "plain living and +high thinking." They are coarsely dressed, and their feet are bare, as +are also the feet of Jesus. One seems to have grasped the situation +more quickly than the other, for he folds his hands together, +reverently gazing directly into the face of Jesus. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>His companion, +an older man, at the other end of the table, looks up astonished and +mystified. The boy who is bringing food to the table is busy with his +task, and does not notice any change in Jesus.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_10" id="pic_10"></a> + <a href="images/image_10_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_10.jpg" width="450" height="492" alt="CHRIST AT EMMAUS The Louvre, Paris" title="CHRIST AT EMMAUS The Louvre, Paris" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">CHRIST AT EMMAUS<br /> +The Louvre, Paris</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_10_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>In the midst is Christ, "pale, emaciated, sitting facing us, breaking +the bread as on the evening of the Last Supper, in his pilgrim robe, +with his blackened lips, on which the torture has left its traces, his +great brown eyes soft, widely opened, and raised towards heaven, with +his cold nimbus, a sort of phosphorescence around him which envelops +him in an indefinable glory, and that inexplicable look of a breathing +human being who certainly has passed through death."</p> + +<p>This description is by a celebrated French critic,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> himself a +painter, who knows whereof he speaks. He says that this picture alone +is enough to establish the reputation of a man.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Fromentin, in <i>Old Masters of Belgium and Holland.</i></p></div> + +<p>There is one artistic quality in the picture to which we must pay +careful attention, as it is particularly characteristic of Rembrandt. +This is the way in which the light and shadow are arranged, or what a +critic would call the chiaroscuro of the picture. The heart of the +composition glows with a golden light which comes from some unseen +source. It falls on the white tablecloth with a dazzling brilliancy as +if from some bright lamp. It gleams on the faces of the company, +bringing out their expressions clearly. The arched recess behind the +table is thrown into heavy shadow, against which the centrally lighted +group is sharply contrasted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>This singular manner of bringing light and darkness into striking +opposition makes the objects in a picture stand out very vividly. Some +one has defined chiaroscuro as the "art of rendering the atmosphere +visible and of painting an object enveloped in air." The art was +carried to perfection by Rembrandt. You will notice it more or less in +every picture of this collection, but nowhere is it more appropriate +than here, where the appearance of Christ, as the source of light, +emphasizes the mystery of the event and makes something sacred of this +common scene.</p> + +<p>As we compare this picture with the etching of Christ Preaching, we +get a better idea of Rembrandt's aim in representing Christ. He did +not try to make his face beautiful with regular classical features, +after the manner of the old Italian painters. He did not even think it +necessary to make his figure grand and imposing. Something still +better Rembrandt sought to put into his picture, and this was a gentle +expression of love.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>PORTRAIT OF SASKIA</h3> + + +<p>We should have but a very imperfect idea of Rembrandt's work if we did +not learn something about the portraits he painted. It was for these +that he was most esteemed in his own day, being the fashionable +portrait painter of Amsterdam at a time when every person of means +wished to have his likeness painted. A collection of his works of this +kind would almost bring back again the citizens of Amsterdam in the +seventeenth century, so life-like are these wonderful canvases. Among +them we should find the various members of his family, his father and +mother, his sister, his servant, his son, and most interesting of all, +his beloved wife, Saskia.</p> + +<p>Saskia was born in Friesland, one of nine children of a wealthy +patrician family. Her father, Rombertus van Uylenborch, was a +distinguished lawyer, who had had several important political missions +intrusted to him. At one time he was sent as a messenger to William of +Orange, and was sitting at table with that prince just before his +assassination. He died in 1624, leaving Saskia an orphan, as she had +lost her mother five years before. The little girl of twelve now began +to live in turn with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> her married sisters. At the age of twenty she +came to Amsterdam to live for a while with her cousin, the wife of a +minister, Jan Cornelis Sylvius, whose face we know from one of +Rembrandt's etchings. Saskia had also another cousin living in +Amsterdam, Hendrick van Uylenborch, a man of artistic tastes, who had +not succeeded as a painter, and had become a dealer in bric-à-brac and +engravings. He was an old friend of Rembrandt; and when the young +painter came to seek his fortune in the great city in 1631, he had +made his home for a while with the art dealer.</p> + +<p>It was doubtless Hendrick who introduced Rembrandt to Saskia. Probably +the beginning of their acquaintance was through Rembrandt's painting +Saskia's portrait in 1632. The relation between them soon grew quite +friendly, for in the same year the young girl sat two or three times +again to the painter. The friendship presently ended in courtship, and +when Rembrandt pressed his suit the marriage seemed a very proper one. +Saskia was of a fine family and had a sufficient dowry.</p> + +<p>Rembrandt, though the son of a miller, was already a famous painter, +much sought after for portraits, and with a promising career before +him. The engagement was therefore approved by her guardians, but +marriage being deferred till she came of age, the courtship lasted two +happy years. During this time Rembrandt painted his lady love over and +over again. It was one of his artistic methods to paint the same +person many times. He was not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>one of the superficial painters who +turn constantly from one model to another in search of new effects. He +liked to make an exhaustive study of a single face in many moods, with +many expressions and varied by different costumes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_11" id="pic_11"></a> + <a href="images/image_11_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_11.jpg" width="450" height="587" alt="PORTRAIT OF SASKIA Cassel Gallery" title="PORTRAIT OF SASKIA Cassel Gallery" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">PORTRAIT OF SASKIA<br /> +Cassel Gallery</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_11_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>Saskia had small eyes and a round nose, and was not at all beautiful +according to classical standards. Rembrandt, however, cared less for +beauty than for expression, and Saskia's face was very expressive, at +times merry and almost roguish, and again quite serious. She had also +a brilliant complexion and an abundance of silky hair, waving from her +forehead. The painter had collected in his studio many pretty and +fantastic things to use in his pictures,—velvets and gold embroidered +cloaks, Oriental stuffs, laces, necklaces, and jewels. With these he +loved to deck Saskia, heightening her girlish charms with the play of +light upon these adornments.</p> + +<p>One of the most famous of the many portraits of Saskia at this time is +the picture we have here. Because it is not signed and dated, after +Rembrandt's usual custom, it is thought that it was intended as a gift +for Saskia herself, and thus it has a romantic interest for us. Also +it is painted with extreme care, as the work of a lover offering the +choicest fruit of his art.</p> + +<p>The artist has arranged a picturesque costume for his sitter,—a +broad-brimmed hat of red velvet with a sweeping white feather, an +elaborate dress with embroidered yoke and full sleeves, a rich mantle +draped over one shoulder, necklace, earrings, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> bracelets of +pearls. Her expression is more serious here than usual, though very +happy, as if she was thinking of her lover; and in her hand she +carries a sprig of rosemary, which in Holland is the symbol of +betrothal, holding it near her heart.</p> + +<p>The marriage finally took place in June, 1634, in the town of Bildt. +The bridal pair then returned to Amsterdam to a happy home life. +Rembrandt had no greater pleasure than in the quiet family circle, and +Saskia had a simple loving nature, entirely devoted to her husband's +happiness. A few years later Rembrandt moved into a fine house in the +Breestraat, which he furnished richly with choice paintings and works +of art.</p> + +<p>A succession of portraits shows that the painter continued to paint +his wife with loving pride. He represented her as a Jewish bride, as +Flora, as an Odalisque, a Judith, a Susanna, and a Bathsheba. There is +one painting of the husband and wife together, Saskia perched like a +child on Rembrandt's knee, as he flourishes a wine-glass in the air. +In another picture (an etching) they sit together at a table about the +evening lamp, the wife with her needle-work, the artist with his +engraving. The love between them is the brightest spot in Rembrandt's +history, clouded as it was with many disappointments and troubles. As +a celebrated writer has expressed it, Saskia was "a ray of sunshine in +the perpetual chiaroscuro of his life."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD, OR THE NIGHT WATCH</h3> + + +<p>The patriotism of the Dutch is seen through the entire history of +"brave little Holland." Early in the sixteenth century every town of +considerable size had a military company composed of the most +prominent citizens. Each company, or guild, had a place of assembly, +or <i>doelen</i>, and a drilling-ground. The officers were chosen for a +year, and the highest appointments were those of captain, lieutenant, +and ensign. Upon these civic guards rested the responsibility of +maintaining the order and safety of the town. Sterner duties than +these were theirs when in the late sixteenth century (1573), at the +call of William of Orange, the various guilds formed themselves into +volunteer companies to resist the Spanish. How well they acquitted +themselves is a matter of history, and Spain recognized the republic +in the treaty of 1609. After the war, many of the corporations were +reorganized and continued to be of great importance in the seventeenth +century.</p> + +<p>The picture we have here represents the Civic Guard of Amsterdam +during the captaincy of Frans Banning Cocq in 1642. Cocq was a man of +wealth and influence who had purchased the estate of Pur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>merland in +1618 and had also been granted a patent of nobility. So it was natural +that Lord Purmerland, one of the most distinguished citizens of the +town, should be called to a term of office as captain of the Civic +Guard. His magnificent stature and manly bearing show him well fitted +for the honor.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_12" id="pic_12"></a> + <a href="images/image_12_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_12.jpg" width="500" height="401" alt="SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD Ryks Museum, Amsterdam" title="SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD Ryks Museum, Amsterdam" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD<br /> +Ryks Museum, Amsterdam</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_12_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>The picture represents an occasion when the guard issues from the +assembly hall, or doelen, in a sudden call to action. Captain Cocq +leads the way with Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenberg, of Vlaerdingen, +and as he advances gives orders to his fellow officer. The drum beats, +the ensign unfurls the standard, every man carries a weapon of some +sort. One is priming a musket, another loading his gun, another +firing. A mass of lance-bearers press on from the rear. In the +confusion a dog scampers into the midst and barks furiously at the +drum. A little girl slips into the crowd on the other side, oddly out +of place in such company, but quite fearless. It has been suggested +that she may have been the bearer of the tidings which calls the guard +forth. The quaint figure is clad in a long dress of some shimmering +stuff, and she has the air of a small princess. From her belt hangs a +cock, and she turns her face admiringly towards the great captain.</p> + + + +<p>We do not know of any historical incident which precisely corresponds +to the action in the picture. Indeed, it is not strictly speaking an +historical picture at all, but rather a portrait group of the Civic +Guard, in attitudes appropriate to their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>character as a military +body. They may be going out for target practice or for a shooting +match such as was held annually as a trial of skill; it may be a +parade, or it may be, as some have fancied, a call to arms against a +sudden attack from the enemy. In any case the noticeable thing is the +readiness with which all respond to the call—the spirit of patriotism +which animates the body. The Dutch are not naturally warlike, but +rather a peace-loving people; lacking the quick impulsiveness of a +more nervous race, they are of a somewhat heavy and deliberate temper; +yet they have the solid worth which can be counted on in an emergency, +and in love of country they are united to a man. Benjamin Franklin +once said of Holland, "In love of liberty, and bravery in the defense +of it, she has been our great example."</p> + +<p>The picture cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of its +history. Painted for the hall of the Amsterdam Musketeers, it was to +take its place among others by contemporary painters, as a portrait +group in honor of the officers of the year, and as a lasting memorial +of their services. The other pictures had been stiff groups about a +table, and the novelty of Rembrandt's composition displeased some of +the members of the guild. Each person who figures in the scene had +subscribed a certain sum towards the cost of the picture for his own +portrait, and was anxious to get his money's worth. Consequently, +there were many who did not at all relish their insignificance in the +background,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> quite overshadowed by the glory of the captain and +lieutenant. They thought they would have shown to much better +advantage arranged in rows.</p> + +<p>It was Rembrandt's way when painting a portrait to give life and +reality to the figure, by showing the leading element in the character +or occupation of the person. Thus his shipbuilder is designing a ship, +the writing master, Coppenol, is mending a pen, the architect has his +drawing utensils, and the preacher his Bible. So in the Civic Guard +each man carries a weapon, and the figures are united in spirited +action. All this artistic motive was lost upon those for whom the +picture was painted, because of their petty vanity. So the great +painting, now so highly esteemed, was not a success at the time.</p> + +<p>In the following century it was removed to the town hall; and in order +to fit it into a particular place on the wall, a strip was cut off +each side the canvas. It is the loss of these margins which gives the +composition the crowded appearance which so long seemed a strange +fault in a great artist like Rembrandt.</p> + +<p>The original colors of the painting grew so dark with the accumulation +of smoke in the hall that the critics supposed the scene occurred at +night, hence the incorrect name of the Night Watch was given to it. +Since the picture was cleaned, in 1889, it is apparent that the +incident occurred in the daytime, and if you look carefully you can +plainly see the shadow of Captain Cocq's hand on the lieutenant's +tunic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX</h3> + + +<p>When the painter Rembrandt came to Amsterdam in 1631, a young man +seeking his fortune in the great city, a lad of twelve years was +living in his father's country seat, near by, who was later to become +one of his warm friends. This was Jan Six, the subject of the portrait +etching reproduced here. There was a great contrast in the +circumstances of life in which the two friends grew up. Rembrandt was +the son of a miller, and had his own way to make in the world. Jan Six +was surrounded from his earliest years with everything which tended to +the gratification of his natural taste for culture. Rembrandt's rare +talent, however, overbalanced any lack of early advantages, and made +him a friend worth having.</p> + +<p>Six had come of Huguenot ancestry. His grandfather had fled to Holland +during the Huguenot persecution in France, and had become a resident +in Amsterdam in 1585. Jan's father, another Jan, had married a Dutch +lady of good family, whose maiden name was Anna Wijmer. It was in the +service of this good lady that we first hear of Rembrandt's connection +with the Six family. He was called to paint her portrait in 1641, and +must have then, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> not before, made the acquaintance of her young +son, Jan. Jan united to a great love of learning a love of everything +beautiful, and was an ardent collector of objects of art. Paintings of +the old Italian and early Dutch schools, rare prints and curios of +various kinds, were his delight. He found in Rembrandt a man after his +own heart. Already the painter had gone far beyond his means in +filling his own house with costly works of art. So the two men, having +a hobby in common, found a strong bond of union in their congenial +tastes. We may be sure that they were often together, to show their +new purchases and discuss their beauty.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_13" id="pic_13"></a> + <a href="images/image_13_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_13.jpg" width="450" height="580" alt="PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" title="PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX<br /> +Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_13_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern image</a></p> + +<p>Rembrandt, as an older and more experienced collector, would doubtless +have good advice to offer his younger friend, and, an artist himself, +would know how to judge correctly a work of art. One record of their +friendship in these years is a little etched landscape which Rembrandt +made in 1641, showing a bridge near the country estate of the Six +family, a place called Elsbroek, near the village of Hillegom.</p> + + + +<p>It was in 1647 that Rembrandt made this portrait of his friend, then +twenty-nine years of age. Six had now begun to make a name for himself +in the world of letters as a scholar and poet. He had already +published a poem on Muiderberg (a village near Amsterdam), and by this +time, doubtless, had under way his great literary work, the tragedy of +Medæa. Many were the times when Rembrandt, coming to his house to talk +over some new treasure-trove, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>found him in his library with his +head buried in a book, and his thoughts far away. It was in such a +moment that he must have had the idea of this beautiful portrait. He +catches his friend one day in the corner of his library, standing with +his back to the window to get the light on the book he is reading. He +transfers the picture to a copper plate and hands it down to future +generations.</p> + +<p>The slender figure of the young man is clad in the picturesque dress +of a gentleman of his time, with knee-breeches and low shoes, with +wide white collar and cuffs. His abundant wavy blond hair falls to his +shoulders; he has the air of a true poet. In his eagerness to read, he +has flung his cavalier's cloak on the window seat behind him, a part +of it dropping upon a chair beyond. Its voluminous folds make a +cushion for him, as he leans gracefully against the window ledge. His +sword and belt lie on the chair with the cloak. For the moment the pen +is mightier than the sword. The furnishings of the room show the +owner's tastes; a pile of folio volumes fill a low chair, an antique +picture hangs on the wall.</p> + +<p>The young man's face is seen by the light reflected from the pages of +his open book. It is a refined, sensitive face, of high intellectual +cast, amiable withal, and full of imagination. He is completely +absorbed in his reading, a smile playing about his mouth. How little +of a fop and how much of a poet he is, we see from his disordered +collar. Breathing quickly as he bends over his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> book, in his +excitement he cannot endure the restraint of a close collar. He has +unloosed it, as, quite oblivious of any untidiness in his appearance, +he hurries on, ruthlessly crushing the pages of the folio back, as he +grasps it in his hand.</p> + +<p>The friendship between Six and Rembrandt seemed to grow apace; for +when the tragedy of Medæa was published, in 1648, it was illustrated +by a magnificent etching by Rembrandt, representing the Marriage of +Jason and Creusa.</p> + +<p>The literary work of Jan Six led the way to various public honors. In +1656 he became commissioner of marriages; in 1667, a member of the +Council of the States General of Holland, and in 1691, burgomaster of +Amsterdam. His continued friendship for Rembrandt was shown in his +purchasing a number of the latter's paintings. Rembrandt at length +painted a magnificent portrait of his friend in his old age, which, +with the portrait of his mother and the original plate for this +etching, still remains in the Six family in Amsterdam. Referring to +the portrait of Jan Six, the famous Dutch poet, Vondel, contemporary +of Rembrandt and Six, paid a fitting tribute to the great burgomaster, +as a "lover of science, art, and virtue."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN</h3> + + +<p>The story is told of a little child who, upon being introduced to a +kind-faced lady, looked up brightly into her eyes with the question, +"Whose mother are you?" When we look into the wrinkled old face of +this picture, the same sort of a question springs to mind, and we +involuntarily ask, "Whose grandmother are you?" We are sure that +children and grandchildren have leaned upon that capacious lap. The +name of the subject is not known, though the same face appears many +times in Rembrandt's works. But there are many people whose names we +can quote, of whom we know much less than of this old woman.</p> + +<p>The story of her life is written in the picture. Those clasped hands, +large and knotted, have done much hard work. They have ministered to +the needs of two generations. They have dandled the baby on her knee, +and supported the little toddler taking his first steps. They have +tended the child and wrought for the youth. They have built the fire +on the hearth and swept out the house; they have kneaded the bread and +filled the kettle; they have spun and woven, and sewed and mended. +They have not even shrunk from the coarser labors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> of dooryard and +field, the care of the cattle, the planting and harvesting. But labor +has done nothing to coarsen the innate refinement of the soul which +looks out of the fine old face.</p> + +<p>She is resting now. The children and grandchildren have grown up to +take care of themselves and their grandmother also. She has time to +sit down in the twilight of life, just as she used to sit down at the +close of each day's work, to think over what has happened. She has a +large comfortable chair, and she is neatly dressed, as befits an old +woman whose life work is done. A white kerchief is folded across her +bosom, a shawl is wrapped about her shoulders, and a hood droops over +her forehead. Her thoughts are far away from her present surroundings; +something sad occupies them. She dreams of the past and perhaps also +of the future. Sorrow as well as work has had a large share in her +life, but she has borne it all with patient resignation. She is not +one to complain, and does not mean to trouble others with her sadness. +But left all alone with her musings, a look of yearning comes into her +eyes as for something beautiful and much loved, lost long ago.</p> + +<p>Some painters have been at great pains to fashion a countenance +sorrowful enough and patient enough to represent the subject of the +Mater Dolorosa, that is, the Sorrowing Mother of Christ. Perhaps they +would have succeeded better if they had turned away from their own +imaginations to some mother in real life, who has loved and worked +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>suffered like this one. The face answers in part our first +question. A woman like this is capable of mothering great sons. +Industrious, patient, self-sacrificing, she would spare herself +nothing to train them faithfully. And the life of which her face +speaks—a life of self-denying toil, ennobled by high ideals of +duty—is the stuff of which heroes are made. Some of the great men of +history had such mothers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="pic_14" id="pic_14"></a> + <a href="images/image_14_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_14.jpg" width="450" height="585" alt="PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN Hermitage Gallery, St. +Petersburg" title="PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN<br /> +Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg</span> +</div> + +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_14_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>The picture illustrates the fact that a face may be interesting and +even artistic, if not beautiful. This idea may surprise many, for when +one calls a person "as pretty as a picture," it seems to be understood +that it is only pretty people who make suitable models for pictures. +Rembrandt, however, was of quite another mind. He was a student of +character as well as a painter, and he cared to paint faces more for +their expression than for beauty of feature.</p> + +<p>Now the expression of a face is to a great extent the index of +character. We say that the child has "no character in his face," +meaning that his skin is still fair and smooth, before his thoughts +and feelings have made any record there. Gradually the character +impresses itself on his face. Experience acts almost like a sculptor's +chisel, carving lines of care and grooving furrows of sorrow, shaping +the mouth and the setting of the eyes.</p> + +<p>The longer this process continues, the more expressive the face +becomes, so that it is the old whose faces tell the most interesting +stories of life. Rembrandt understood this perfectly, and none ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +succeeded better than he in revealing the poetry and beauty of old +age.</p> + +<p>His way of showing the character in the face of this old woman is very +common with him. The high light of the picture is concentrated on the +face and is continued down upon the snowy kerchief. This forms a +diamond of light shading by gradations into darker tints. It was the +skillful use of light and shadow in the picture, which made a poetic +and artistic work of a subject which another painter might have made +very commonplace.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD</h3> + + +<p>The word syndic is a name applied to an officer of a corporation, and +this is its meaning in the title of the picture, The Syndics of the +Cloth Guild. In Holland, as in England and France and elsewhere in +Europe, guilds were associations of tradesmen or artisans united for +purposes of mutual help and for the interests of their respective +industries. In some points they were the forerunners of modern trades +unions, except that the members were proprietary merchants and master +craftsmen instead of employees, and their purpose was the advancement +of commercial interests in municipal affairs, instead of the +protection of labor against capital. There were guilds of mercers, +wine merchants, goldsmiths, painters and many others.</p> + +<p>Now the wool industry was one of the most important in Holland, hence +the Guild of Drapers or Cloth Workers was a dignified association in +several cities. There was one in Leyden, where Rembrandt was born, and +another in Amsterdam, where he passed the most of his life. Amsterdam +was at that time the foremost commercial city of Europe. Its guilds +had fine halls, ornamented with works of art painted by the best +contemporary artists. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> was for this purpose that Rembrandt received +from the Amsterdam Cloth Guild the commission to paint a portrait +group of their five officers, and he accordingly delivered to them in +1661 the great picture of which we have this little reproduction to +examine.</p> + +<p>Just as in the picture of the Civic Guard he had given life to the +portraits, by showing the members in some action appropriate to their +military character, so here he represents the officers of the guild in +surroundings suggestive of their duties. They are gathered about a +table covered with a rich scarlet cloth, on which rests the great +ledger of the corporation. They are engaged in balancing their +accounts and preparing a report for the year, and a servant awaits +their order in the rear of the apartment. Their task seems a pleasant +one, for whatever difficulties have arisen during their +administration, it is evident that the outcome is successful. They +take a quiet satisfaction in the year's record.</p> + +<p>It is as if in the midst of their consultations, as they turn the +leaves of the ledger, we suddenly open the door into the room. They +are surprised but not disturbed by the intrusion, and look genially +towards the newcomers. The younger man at the end welcomes us with a +smile. Next to him is one who has been leaning over the book. He +raises his head and meets our eyes frankly and cordially. His +companion continues his discourse, gesturing with the right hand. The +older men at one side give more attention to the arrival. One seated +in the armchair smiles good naturedly; the other, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>rising and +leaning on the table, peers forward with a look of keen inquiry.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_15" id="pic_15"></a> + <a href="images/image_15_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_15.jpg" width="500" height="329" alt="THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD Ryks Museum, +Amsterdam" title="THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD Ryks Museum, Amsterdam" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD<br /> +Ryks Museum, Amsterdam</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_15_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern color image</a></p> + +<p>As we examine the faces one by one, we could almost write a character +study of each man, so wonderfully does the portrait reveal the inner +life—the placid amiability of one, the quiet humor of another, the +keen, incisive insight of a third. That they are all men of sound +judgment we may well believe, and they are plainly men to be trusted. +The motto of the guild is a key to their character: "Conform to your +vows in all matters clearly within their jurisdiction; live honestly; +be not influenced in your judgments by favor, hatred, or personal +interest." These principles are at the foundation of the commercial +prosperity for which Holland is noted.</p> + +<p>The picture may be taken to illustrate a page in American history. It +was the Dutch, as we all remember, who founded the State of New York, +and the fifty years of their occupation (1614-1664) fell within the +lifetime of Rembrandt. The fifteen thousand settlers, who came during +this time from Holland to America, brought with them the manners and +customs of their home country. The citizens of New Amsterdam were the +counterparts of their contemporaries in the old Amsterdam. We may see, +then, in this picture of the Cloth Merchants of Amsterdam just such +men as were to be seen among our own colonists. In the broad-brimmed +hat and the wide white collar we find the same peculiarities of dress, +and in their honest faces we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> read the same national traits. It was to +men like these that we owe a debt of gratitude for some of the best +elements in our national life. In the words of a historian,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> "The +republican Dutchmen gave New York its tolerant and cosmopolitan +character, insured its commercial supremacy, introduced the common +schools, founded the oldest day school and the first Protestant church +in the United States, and were pioneers in most of the ideas and +institutions we boast of as distinctly American."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> W. E. Griffis, in <i>Brave Little Holland</i>, pp. 212-213.</p></div> + +<p>If you fancy that it was quite accidental that the six figures of this +picture are so well arranged, and wonder why the art of Rembrandt +should be so praised here, you may try an experiment with your camera +upon a group of six figures. In posing six persons in any order which +is not stiff, and getting them all to look with one accord and quite +naturally towards a single point, you will understand some of the many +difficulties which Rembrandt overcame so simply.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>THE THREE TREES</h3> + + +<p>Holland, as is well known, is a country built upon marshes, which have +been drained and filled in by the patient industry of many generations +of workers. The land is consequently very low, almost perfectly level, +and is covered by a network of canals. It lacks many of the features +which make up the natural scenery of other countries,—mountains and +ravines, rocks and rivers,—but it is, nevertheless, a very +picturesque country. Artists love it for the quiet beauty of its +landscape. Though this is not grand and awe-inspiring, it is restful +and attractive.</p> + +<p>We may well believe that the artistic nature of Rembrandt was +sensitive to the influences of his native Dutch scenery. Though his +great forte in art lay in other directions, he paused from time to +time to paint or etch a landscape.</p> + +<p>Even in this unaccustomed work he proved himself a master. He treated +the subject much as he did a portrait,—trying to bring out the +character of the scene just as he brought out the character in a face. +How much of a story he could tell in a single picture we see in this +famous etching called The Three Trees.</p> + +<p>One can tell at a glance that this is Holland. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> look across a wide +level stretch of land, and the eye travels on and on into an almost +endless distance. Far away we see the windmills of a Dutch town +outlined against the sky,—a sign of industry as important in Holland +as are factory chimneys in some other parts of the world. Beyond this, +another endless level stretch meets the sky at the horizon line. It is +hard to distinguish the land and water, which seem to lie in alternate +strips. The pastures are surrounded by canals as by fences.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pic_16" id="pic_16"></a> + <a href="images/image_16_1.jpg"><img src="images/image_16.jpg" width="500" height="370" alt="THE THREE TREES Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" title="THE THREE TREES Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" /></a><br /> + +<span class="caption">THE THREE TREES<br /> +Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</span> +</div> +<p class="center f1">Please click on the image for a larger image.</p> + <p class="center f1"><a href="images/image_16_2.jpg">Please click here for a modern image</a></p> + +<p>Here and there are cows grazing, and we are reminded of the fine dairy +farms for which Holland is noted, the rich butter and cheese, which +are the product of these vast flat lands, apparently so useless and +unproductive. Directly in front of us, at the left, is a still pool, +and on the farther bank stands a fisherman holding a rod over the +water. A woman seated on the bank watches the process with intense +interest. There are two other figures near by which can hardly be +discerned.</p> + + + +<p>The wide outlook of flat country is the setting for the little +tree-crowned hill which rises near us at the right. It would seem a +very small hillock anywhere else, but in these level surroundings it +has a distinct character. It is the one striking feature which gives +expression to the face of the landscape. The eye turns with pleasure +to its grassy slopes and leafy trees. The trees have the symmetrical +grace so characteristic of Dutch vegetation. Nothing is allowed to +grow wild in this country. Every growing thing is carefully nurtured +and trained. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>see that the distances between these trees were +carefully spaced in the planting, so that each one might develop +independently and perfectly without injury to the others. The branches +grow from their straight trunks at the same height, and they are +plainly of the same age. Their outer branches interlace in brotherly +companionship to make a solid leafy arbor, beneath which the wayfarer +may find a shady retreat. On the summit of the hill, outlined against +the sky, is a hay wagon followed by a man with a rake. At a distance, +also clearly seen against the sky, on the ridge of the hill, sits a +man, alone and idle.</p> + +<p>The sky is a wonderful part of the picture. Rembrandt, it appears, +almost never ventured to represent the clouds. He had the true +artist's reverence for subjects which were beyond his skill, and +preferred to leave untouched what he could not do well. Now in this +case, lacking the experience to draw a sky as finished in workmanship +as his landscape, he <i>suggested</i> in a few lines the effect which he +wished to produce. At the left a few diagonal strokes show a smart +shower just at hand. A whirl of dark-colored clouds comes next, and in +the upper air beyond, a stratum of clouds is indicated by a mass of +lines crossing and recrossing in long swirling curves.</p> + +<p>With these few lines Rembrandt conveys perfectly the idea that a storm +is approaching. The clouds seem to be in motion, scurrying across the +sky in advance of the rain. One imaginative critic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> has thought that +he could discern in the cloud-whirl a dim phantom figure as of the +spirit of the on-coming storm. Like the clouds we often see in nature, +it takes some new fantastic shape every time we look at it. Altogether +the impression we receive is that of vivid reality. The artist's few +lines have produced with perfect success an effect, which might have +been entirely spoiled had he tried to finish it carefully.</p> + +<p>We look once more at the landscape to see what influence the coming +storm has upon it. The fisherman pays no heed. The clouding of the sky +only makes the fish bite better, and absorbed in his sport he cares +nothing for weather. The haymaker on the hilltop has a better chance +to read the face of the sky, and starts up his wagon. The three trees +seem to feel the impending danger. Their leafage is already darkening +in the changed light, and they toss their branches in the wind, as if +to wrestle with the spirit of the storm.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT</h3> + + +<p>In studying the fifteen pictures of this collection, we have seen +something of the work of the great Dutch master, Rembrandt, and have +learned a little of the man himself, of his love for the sweet wife, +Saskia, of his friendship with the cultured burgomaster, Jan Six, of +his faithful and reverent study of the Bible, of his rare insight into +people's character. We are ready now to look directly into the +artist's own face, in a portrait by his own hand.</p> + +<p>There are a great many portraits of Rembrandt etched and painted by +himself. We have noticed how fond he was of painting the same model +many times, in order to make a thorough study of the face, in varying +moods and expressions. Now there was one sitter who was always at +hand, and ready to do his bidding. He had only to take a position in +front of a mirror, and there was this model willing to pose in any +position and with any expression he desired. So obliging a sitter +could nowhere else be found; and thus it is that there is such a large +collection of his self-made portraits.</p> + +<p>His habit of painting his own portrait gave him an opportunity to +study all sorts of costume effects. His patrons were plain, slow-going +Dutchmen who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> did not want any "fancy" effects in their portraits. +They wished first of all a faithful likeness in such clothing as they +ordinarily wore. It was chiefly in his own portraits that Rembrandt +had the satisfaction of painting the rich and fanciful costumes he +loved so well. He wore in turn all sorts of hats and caps, many jewels +and ornaments, and every variety of mantle, doublet, and cuirass. In +this he was somewhat like an actor taking the parts of many different +characters. Sometimes he is an officer with mustaches fiercely +twisted, carrying his head with a dashing military air. Again he is a +cavalier wearing his velvet mantle, and plumed hat, with the languid +elegance of a gentleman of leisure. Sometimes he seems a mere country +boor, a rough, unkempt fellow, with coarse features and a heavy +expression.</p> + +<p>As we see him acting so many rôles, we may well wonder what the +character of the man really was. As a matter of fact, he was full of +singular contradictions. In his personal habits he was frugal and +temperate to the last degree, preferring the simplest fare, and +contenting himself with a lunch of herring and cheese when occupied +with his work. On the other hand, his artistic tastes led him into +reckless extravagance. He thought no price too great to pay for a +choice painting, or rare print, upon which he had set his heart. He +was generous to a fault, fond of his friends, yet living much alone.</p> + +<p>In the portrait we have chosen for our frontispiece, we like to +believe that we see Rembrandt, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> man himself. He wears one of his +rich studio costumes, but the face which he turns to ours is quite +free from any affectation; a spirit of sincerity looks out of his +kindly eyes. The portrait is signed and dated 1640, so that the man is +between thirty and thirty-five years of age. This was the happiest +period of Rembrandt's life, while his wife Saskia was still living to +brighten his home.</p> + +<p>We see his contentment in his face. He has large mobile features, +which have here settled into an expression of genial repose. He has +the dignified bearing of one whose professional success entitles him +to a just sense of self-satisfaction, but he is not posing as a great +man. He is still a simple-hearted miller's son, a man whom we should +like to meet in his own family circle, with his little ones playing +about him. He is a man to whom children might run, sure of a friendly +welcome; he is a man whom strangers might trust, sure of his +sincerity. It is, in short, Rembrandt, with all the kindliest human +qualities uppermost, which show us, behind the artist, the man +himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PRONOUNCING_VOCABULARY_OF_PROPER_NAMES_AND_FOREIGN_WORDS" id="PRONOUNCING_VOCABULARY_OF_PROPER_NAMES_AND_FOREIGN_WORDS"></a>PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS</h2> + +<p>The Diacritical Marks given are those found in the latest edition of +Webster's International Dictionary.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>EXPLANATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS.</b></p> + + +<p>A Dash (¯) above the vowel denotes the long sound, as in fāte, ēve, +tīme, nōte, ūse.</p> + +<p>A Dash and a Dot (-̇) above the vowel denote the same sound, less +prolonged.</p> + +<p>A Curve (˘) above the vowel denotes the short sound, as in ădd, ĕnd, +ĭll, ŏdd, ŭp.</p> + +<p>A Dot ( ̇) above the vowel a denotes the obscure sound of a in pȧst, +ȧbāte, Amĕricȧ.</p> + +<p>A Double Dot (¨) above the vowel a denotes the broad sound of a in +fäther, älms.</p> + +<p>A Double Dot (..) below the vowel a denotes the sound of a in ba̤ll.</p> + +<p>A Wave (~) above the vowel e denotes the sound of e in hẽr.</p> + +<p>A Circumflex Accent (^) above the vowel o denotes the sound of o in bôrn.</p> + +<p>ḗ sounds like e in dḗpĕnd.</p> + +<p>ṓ sounds like o in prṓpōse.</p> + +<p>ç sounds like s.</p> + +<p>c̵ sounds like k.</p> + +<p>ṣ̱ sounds like z.</p> + +<p>ḡ is hard as in ḡet.</p> + +<p>ġ is soft as in ġem.</p> + +<div class="index"> +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Amsterdam (Ăm'stẽrdăm).</li> + +<li>Apocrypha (ȧ pŏḱrĭ fȧ).</li> + +<li>Aramaic (Ărȧmā'ĭc̵).</li> + +<li>Asenath (Āsē'năth).</li> + +<li>Assyria (Ăssy̆r'ĭȧ).</li> + +<li>Azarias (Ăzȧrī'ăs).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Bathsheba (Băthshē'bȧ).</li> + +<li>Bethlehem (Bĕth'lēhĕm).</li> + +<li>Bildt (bēlt).</li> + +<li>Braun (brown).</li> + +<li>Breestraat (brā'strät).</li> + +<li>burgher (bẽr'gẽr).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Capernaum (c̵āpẽr'nāŭm).</li> + +<li>Cassel (käs'sĕl).</li> + +<li>chiaroscuro (kyä rṓ sk<img src="images/d_2.jpg" alt="=oo" width="30" height="19" />'rṓ).</li> + +<li>Cleopas (c̵lē'ōpăs).</li> + +<li>Cocq (kōk̄).</li> + +<li>Coppenol (kŏp'pḗ nŏ).</li> + +<li>Creusa (c̵rēū́sȧ).</li> + +<li>cuirass (kwē räs').</li> + +<li>cymar (sī mär').</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>doelen (d<img src="images/d_2.jpg" alt="=oo" width="30" height="19" />'lĕn).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Ecbatane (ĕk băt'ȧ nŭ).</li> + +<li>Elsbroek (ĕls'br<img src="images/d_2.jpg" alt="=oo" width="30" height="19" />k).</li> + +<li>Emmaus (Emmā'ŭs (or ĕm'mā ŭs)).</li> + +<li>Enemessar (Enēmĕs'săr).</li> + +<li>Ephraim (E'phrāĭm).</li> + +<li>etzn (ĕt'zn̆).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Friesland (frēz'lȧnd).</li> + +<li>Fromentin (frṓ-mŏN-tăN').</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Gabael (Găb'ā̇ĕl (or gā̇'bā̇ ĕl)).</li> + +<li>Galileo (Gălĭlē'ṓ).</li> + +<li>Gennesaret (Ġĕnnĕs'ȧrĕt).</li> + +<li>Goethe (ḡẽ'tŭ).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Hague (hāg).</li> + +<li>Hamelin (hä'mĕ lĭn).</li> + +<li>Hanfstaengl, Franz (hänf'stāngl fränts).</li> + +<li>Hatto (hăt'ṓ).</li> + +<li>Hillegom (hĭl'lḗ gŏm).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Israel (ĭz'rā̇-ĕl).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Jason (Jā'sŏn).</li> + +<li>Jericho (Jĕr'ĭc̵hō).</li> + +<li>Joden (yō'dĕn).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Lastman, Pieter (läst'män pē'tẽr).</li> + +<li>Leyden (lī'dĕn).</li> + +<li>Louvre (l<img src="images/d_2.jpg" alt="=oo" width="30" height="19" />́vr).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Manasseh (mȧ năs'sŭ).</li> + +<li>Manoah (Mā̇nō'ȧh).</li> + +<li>Mater Dolorosa (mā'tẽr dŏl ṓ rō'sȧ).</li> + +<li>Medæa (mḗ dē'ȧ).</li> + +<li>Media (mē'dĭ ȧ).</li> + +<li>Michel (mḗ shĕl').</li> + +<li>Muiderberg (moi'de̯r bĕrg).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Nazareth (Năz'ȧrĕth).</li> + +<li>Nineveh (nĭn'ḗ vŭ).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Odalisque (ō'dȧ lĭsk).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Padanaram (Pādȧnā'rȧm).</li> + +<li>Palestine (Păl'ĕstīne).</li> + +<li>Peniel (Pḗnī'ḗl).</li> + +<li>Penuel (Pḗnū'ĕl).</li> + +<li>Purmerland (Pŭr'mẽrlănd).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Rages (Rā'gēs).</li> + +<li>Raguel (Rā̇gū'ĕl (or răg'ū ĕl)).</li> + +<li>Raphael (rä'fā-ĕl).</li> + +<li>Rembrandt (rĕm'brănt).</li> + +<li>Ruytenberg, Willem van (roi'te̯n bĕrg wĭl'lĕm vän).</li> + +<li>Ryks (Rȳks).</li> + +</ul><ul class="IX"> +<li>Saskia (säs'kḗ ȧ).</li> + +<li>Sennacherib (Sĕnnăch'ḗrĭb).</li> + +<li>Simeon (Sĭm'ē̇ŏn).</li> + +<li>Six, Jan (sēx yän).</li> + +<li>Stuttgart (st<img src="images/d_3.jpg" alt=")oo" width="21" height="20" />t'gärt).</li> + +<li>Sylvius, Jan Cornelis (sĭl'vḗ <img src="images/d_3.jpg" alt=")oo" width="21" height="20" />s yän kṓr nē'lĭs).</li> + +<li>Syndic (Sy̆n'dĭc̵).</li> + +<li>Swanenburch (swä'nĕn b<img src="images/d_3.jpg" alt=")oo" width="21" height="20" />r<span class="smcap">k</span>).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Tigris (Tī'grĭs).</li> + +<li>Tobias (Tṓbī'ăs).</li> + +<li>Tobit (Tō'bĭt).</li> + +<li>Trippenhuis (trĭp'pĕn hois).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Uylenborch, Rombertus van (oi'lĕn bṓr<span class="smcap">k</span> rŏm bĕr't<img src="images/d_3.jpg" alt=")oo" width="21" height="20" />s vän).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Vlaerdingen (vlär'dĭng ĕn).</li> + +<li>Vondel (vŏn'dĕl).</li> +</ul><ul class="IX"> + +<li>Wijmer (wī'mẽr).</li></ul> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. 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b/19602-h/images/seal.jpg diff --git a/19602.txt b/19602.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..79d15a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/19602.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2863 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. Hurll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rembrandt + A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the + Painter with Introduction and Interpretation + +Author: Estelle M. Hurll + +Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #19602] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMBRANDT *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: REMBRANDT VAN RYN (BY HIMSELF) + _National Gallery, London_] + + + + Masterpieces of Art + + + REMBRANDT + + + A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES + + AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER + + WITH INTRODUCTION AND + + INTERPRETATION + + + + BY + + ESTELLE M. HURLL + + + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + The Riverside Press Cambridge + + 1899 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +The choice of pictures for this collection has been made with the +object of familiarizing the student with works fairly representative +of Rembrandt's art in portraiture and Biblical illustration, landscape +and genre study, in painting and etching. Admirers of the Dutch master +may miss some well-known pictures. For obvious reasons the Lecture in +Anatomy is deemed unsuitable for this place, and the Hundred Guilder +Print contains too many figures to be reproduced here clearly. The +Syndics of the Cloth Guild and the print of Christ Preaching will +compensate for these omissions, and show Rembrandt at his best, both +with brush and burin. + +There are perhaps no paintings in the world more difficult to +reproduce satisfactorily in black and white than those of Rembrandt. +His marvelous effects of chiaroscuro leave in darkness portions of the +composition, which appear in the photograph as unintelligible blurs. +With these difficulties to meet, great pains have been taken to select +for the reproductions of this book the best photographs made direct +from the original paintings. A comparative study of the available +material has resulted in making use of an almost equal number from +Messrs. Hanfstaengl & Co. and Messrs. Braun & Cie. + +In reproducing the etchings the publishers have been most fortunate in +being able to use for the purpose original prints in the Harvey D. +Parker Collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. + +ESTELLE M. HURLL. + +NEW BEDFORD, MASS. + +November, 1899. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES + + +PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT. PAINTED BY HIMSELF. _Frontispiece._ + +FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE. + +INTRODUCTION + + I. ON REMBRANDT'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST + + II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + + III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION + + IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REMBRANDT'S LIFE + + V. SOME OF REMBRANDT'S FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES IN HOLLAND + + VI. FOREIGN CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS + +I. JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +II. ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +III. THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +IV. THE RAT KILLER + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +V. THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +VI. THE GOOD SAMARITAN + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +VII. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +VIII. CHRIST PREACHING + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +IX. CHRIST AT EMMAUS + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +X. PORTRAIT OF SASKIA + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +XI. THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +XII. PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +XIII. PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY MAISON AD. BRAUN & CIE + +XIV. THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD + + PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL + +XV. THE THREE TREES + + PICTURE FROM ORIGINAL ETCHING IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON + +XVI. THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT (_See Frontispiece_) + +PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS + + * * * * * + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +I. ON REMBRANDT'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST + + +A general impression prevails with the large picture-loving public +that a special training is necessary to any proper appreciation of +Rembrandt. He is the idol of the connoisseur because of his superb +mastery of technique, his miracles of chiaroscuro, his blending of +colors. Those who do not understand these matters must, it is +supposed, stand quite without the pale of his admirers. Too many +people, accepting this as a dictum, take no pains to make the +acquaintance of the great Dutch master. It may be that they are +repelled at the outset by Rembrandt's indifference to beauty. His +pictures lack altogether those superficial qualities which to some are +the first requisites of a picture. Weary of the familiar commonplaces +of daily life, the popular imagination looks to art for happier scenes +and fairer forms. This taste, so completely gratified by Raphael, is +at first strangely disappointed by Rembrandt. While Raphael peoples +his canvases with beautiful creatures of another realm, Rembrandt +draws his material from the common world about us. In place of the +fair women and charming children with whom Raphael delights us, he +chooses his models from wrinkled old men and beggars. Rembrandt is +nevertheless a poet and a visionary in his own way. "For physical +beauty he substitutes moral expression," says Fromentin. If in the +first glance at his picture we see only a transcript of common life, +a second look discovers something in this common life that we have +never before seen there. We look again, and we see behind the +commonplace exterior the poetry of the inner life. A vision of the +ideal hovers just beyond the real. Thus we gain refreshment, not by +being lifted out of the world, but by a revelation of the beauty which +is in the world. Rembrandt becomes to us henceforth an interpreter of +the secrets of humanity. As Raphael has been surnamed "the divine," +for the godlike beauty of his creations, so Rembrandt is "the human," +for his sympathetic insight into the lives of his fellow men. + +Even for those who are slow to catch the higher meaning of Rembrandt's +work, there is still much to entertain and interest in his rare +story-telling power--a gift which should in some measure compensate +for his lack of superficial beauty. His story themes are almost +exclusively Biblical, and his style is not less simple and direct than +the narrative itself. Every detail counts for something in the +development of the dramatic action. Probably no other artist has +understood so well the pictorial qualities of patriarchal history. +That singular union of poetry and prose, of mysticism and practical +common sense, so striking in the Hebrew character, appealed powerfully +to Rembrandt's imagination. It was peculiarly well represented in the +scenes of angelic visitation. Jacob wrestling with the Angel affords a +fine contrast between the strenuous realities of life and the pure +white ideal rising majestically beyond. The homely group of Tobit's +family is glorified by the light of the radiant angel soaring into +heaven from the midst of them. + +Rembrandt's New Testament scenes are equally well adapted to emphasize +the eternal immanence of the supernatural in the natural. The +Presentation in the Temple is invested with solemn significance; the +simple Supper at Emmaus is raised into a sacrament by the transfigured +countenance of the Christ. For all these contrasts between the actual +and the ideal, Rembrandt had a perfect vehicle of artistic expression +in chiaroscuro. In the mastery of the art of light and shade he is +supreme. His entire artistic career was devoted to this great problem, +and we can trace his success through all the great pictures from the +Presentation to the Syndics. + +Rembrandt apparently cared very little for the nude, for the delicate +curves of the body and the exquisite colors of flesh. Yet to +overbalance this disregard of beautiful form was his strong +predilection for finery. None ever loved better the play of light upon +jewels and satin and armor, the rich effectiveness of Oriental stuffs +and ecclesiastical vestments. Unable to gratify this taste in the +portraits which he painted to order, he took every opportunity to +paint both himself and his wife, Saskia, in costume. Wherever the +subject admitted, he introduced what he could of rich detail. In the +picture of Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph, Asenath, as the wife of +an Egyptian official, is appropriately adorned with jewels and finery. +In the Sortie of the Civic Guard, Captain Cocq is resplendent in his +military regalia. + +With all this fondness for pretty things, Rembrandt never allowed his +fancy to carry him beyond the limits of fitness in sacred art. The +Venetian masters had represented the most solemn scenes of the New +Testament with a pomp and magnificence entirely at variance with their +meaning. Rembrandt understood better the real significance of +Christianity, and made no such mistake. His Supper at Emmaus is the +simple evening meal of three peasant pilgrims precisely as it is +represented in the Gospel. His Christ Preaching includes a motley +company of humble folk, such as the great Teacher loved to gather +about him. + +It was perhaps the obverse side of his fondness for finery, that Rembrandt +had a strong leaning towards the picturesqueness of rags. A very +interesting class of his etchings is devoted to genre studies and beggars. +Here his disregard of the beautiful in the passion for expression reached +an extreme. His subjects are often grotesque--sometimes repulsive--but +always intensely human. Reading human character with rare sympathy, he was +profoundly touched by the poetry and the pathos of these miserable lives. +Through all these studies runs a quaint vein of humor, relieving the +pathos of the situations. The picturesque costume of the old Rat Killer +tickles the sense of humor, and conveys somehow a delightful suggestion of +his humbuggery which offsets the touching squalor of the grotesque little +apprentice. And none but a humorist could have created the swaggering +hostler's boy holding the Good Samaritan's horse. + +As a revealer of character, Rembrandt reaches the climax of his power +in his portraits. From this class of his pictures alone one can +repeople Holland with the spirits of the seventeenth century. All +classes and conditions and all ages came within the range of his magic +brush and burin. The fresh girlhood of Saskia, the sturdy manhood of +the Syndics, and the storied old age of his favorite old woman model +show the scope of his power, and in Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph +he shows the whole range in a single composition. He is manifestly at +his best when his sitter has pronounced features and wrinkled skin, a +face full of character, which he understood so well how to depict. +Obstacles stimulated him to his highest endeavor. Given the prosaic +and hackneyed motif of the Syndics' composition, he rose to the +highest point of artistic expression in a portrait group, in which a +grand simplicity of technical style is united with a profound and +intimate knowledge of human nature. + + +II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE + +The history of modern Rembrandt bibliography properly begins with the +famous work by C. Vosmaer, "Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, sa Vie et ses +OEuvres." Vosmaer profited by the researches of Kolloff and Burger +to bring out a book which opened a new era in the appreciation of the +great Dutch master. It was first issued in 1868, and was republished +in 1877 in an enlarged edition. This book was practically alone in the +field until the recent work of Emile Michel appeared. In the English +translation (by Florence Simmonds) edited by Walter Armstrong, +Michel's "Rembrandt" is at the present moment our standard authority +on the subject. It is in two large illustrated volumes full of +historical information and criticism and containing a complete +classified list of Rembrandt's works--paintings, drawings, and +etchings. + +The "Complete Work of Rembrandt," by Wilhelm Bode, is now issuing from +the press (1899), and will consist of eight volumes containing +reproductions of all the master's pictures, with historical and +descriptive text. It is to be hoped that this mammoth and costly work +will be put into many large reference libraries, where students may +consult it to see Rembrandt's work in its entirety. + +The series of small German monographs edited by H. Knackfuss and now +translated into English has one number devoted to Rembrandt, +containing nearly one hundred and sixty reproductions from his works, +with descriptive text. Kugler's "Handbook of the German, Flemish, and +Dutch Schools," revised by J. A. Crowe, includes a brief account of +Rembrandt's life and work, which may be taken as valuable and +trustworthy. For a critical estimate of the character of Rembrandt's +art, its strength and weaknesses, and its peculiarities, nothing can +be more interesting than what Eugene Fromentin, French painter and +critic, has written in his "Old Masters of Belgium and Holland." + +Rembrandt's etchings have been the exclusive subject of many books. +There are voluminous descriptive catalogues by Bartsch ("Le Peintre +Graveur") Claussin, Wilson, Charles Blanc, Middleton, and Dutuit. A +short monograph on "The Etchings of Rembrandt," by Philip Gilbert +Hamerton (London, 1896), reviews the most famous prints in a very +pleasant way. + +There are valuable prints from the original plates of Rembrandt in the +Harvey D. Parker collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in +the Gray collection of the Fogg Museum at Cambridge, Massachusetts. +Those who are not fortunate enough to have access to original prints +will derive much satisfaction from the complete set of reproductions +published in St. Petersburg (1890) with catalogue by Rovinski, and +from the excellent reproductions of Amand Durand, Paris. + +To come in touch with the spirit of the times and of the country of +Rembrandt, the reader is referred to Motley's "Rise of the Dutch +Republic," condensed and continued by W. E. Griffis. + + +III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION + +_Portrait Frontispiece_. National Gallery, London. Signed and dated +1640. + +1. _Jacob Wrestling with the Angel_. Berlin Gallery. Signed and dated +1659. Figures life size. Size: 4 ft. 5-1/16 in. by 3 ft. 9-5/8 in. + +2. _Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph_. Cassel Gallery. Signed and +dated 1656. Figures life size. Size: 5 ft. 8-9/16 in. by 6 ft. 6-3/4 +in. + +3. _The Angel Raphael Leaving the Family of Tobit_. Louvre, Paris. +Signed and dated 1637. Size: 2 ft. 2-13/16 in. by 1 ft. 8-1/2 in. + +4. _The Rat Killer_. Etching. Signed and dated 1632. Size: 5-1/2 in. +by 4-9/16 in. + +5. _The Philosopher in Meditation_. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated +1633. Size: 11-7/16 in. by 13 in. + +6. _The Good Samaritan_. Etching. Signed and dated 1633. Size: 10-1/5 +in. by 8-3/5 in. + +7. _The Presentation in the Temple_. At the Hague. Signed and dated +1631. Size: 2 ft. 4-11/16 in. by 1 ft. 6-7/8 in. + +8. _Christ Preaching_. Etching. Date assigned by Michel, about 1652. +Size: 6-1/5 in. by 8-1/5 in. + +9. _Christ at Emmaus_. Louvre, Paris. Signed and dated 1648. Size: 2 +ft. 2-13/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-5/8 in. + +10. _Portrait of Saskia_. Cassel Gallery. Painted about 1632-1634. +Life size. Size: 3 ft. 2-11/16 in. by 2 ft. 1-3/5 in. + +11. _Sortie of the Civic Guard_. Ryks Museum (Trippenhuis), Amsterdam. +Signed and dated 1642. Life size figures. Size: 11 ft. 9-3/8 in. by 14 +ft. 3-5/16 in. + +12. _Portrait of Jan Six_. Etching. Signed and dated 1647. Size: about +9-3/8 in. by 7-3/8 in. + +13. _Portrait of an Old Woman_. Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg. +Signed and dated 1654. Size: 3 ft. 6-7/8 in. by 2 ft. 9 in. + +14. _The Syndics of the Cloth Guild_. Ryks Museum (Trippenhuis), +Amsterdam. Signed and dated 1661. Life size figures. Size: 6 ft. 7/8 +in. by 8 ft. 11-15/16 in. + +15. _The Three Trees_. Etching, 1643. Size: 8-2/5 in. by 11 in. + + +IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN REMBRANDT'S LIFE + +1606.[1] Rembrandt born in Leyden. + +1621. Rembrandt apprenticed to the painter, Jacob van Swanenburch. + +1624. Rembrandt studied six months with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. + +1627. Rembrandt's earliest known works, St. Paul in Prison, (Stuttgart +Museum); The Money Changers (Berlin Gallery). + +1631. Rembrandt removed to Amsterdam. + +1631. The Presentation painted. + +1632. The Anatomy Lecture painted. + +1633. The portrait of the Shipbuilder and his Wife painted. + +1634. Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenborch, June 22, in Bildt. + +1635. Rembrandt's son Rombertus baptized December 15. (Died in +infancy.) + +1637. Angel Raphael Leaving Family of Tobit painted. + +1638. Rembrandt's daughter Cornelia born. (Died in early childhood.) + +1639. Rembrandt bought a house in the Joden Breestraat. + +1640. Rembrandt's second daughter born and died. + +1640. Rembrandt's mother died. + +1640. The Carpenter's Household painted. + +1641. Manoah's Prayer painted. + +1641. Rembrandt's son Titus baptized. + +1642. Sortie of the Civic Guard (The Night Watch) painted for the hall +of the Amsterdam Musketeers. + +[Footnote 1: Authorities are not entirely unanimous as to the date of +Rembrandt's birth.] + +1642. Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, died. + +1648. Christ at Emmaus painted. + +1649. The Hundred Guilder print etched. + +1651. Christ Appearing to Magdalen painted. + +1652. Christ Preaching etched. + +1656. Rembrandt's bankruptcy. + +1656. Israel Blessing the Sons of Joseph painted. + +1661. Portrait of the Syndics painted for the Guild of Drapers, +Amsterdam. + +1668. Rembrandt's son Titus died. + +1669. Rembrandt died. + + +V. SOME OF REMBRANDT'S FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES IN HOLLAND + +Frederick Henry of Orange, stadtholder, 1625. Princess Amalia of +Solms, wife of Frederick Henry, built the Huis ten Bosch (House in the +Woods) at the Hague, 1647. + +William II of Orange, stadtholder, 1647. In 1650 the stadt-holderate +was suppressed, and John de Witt became in 1653 chief executive of the +republic for twenty years. Murdered in 1672. + +John of Barneveld, Grand Pensioner, "the greatest statesman in all the +history of the Netherlands" (Griffis). Executed May 24, 1619. + +Michael de Ruyter, "the Dutch Nelson," died 1676. + +Marten Harpertzoon von Tromp, admiral. Born 1597; died 1691. (He +defeated the English fleet under Blake.) + +Cornelius Evertsen, admiral. + +Floriszoon, admiral. + +Witte de With, admiral. + +Hendrik Hudson, navigator and discoverer; first voyage, 1607, last +voyage, 1610. + +Captain Zeachen, discoverer. + +Hugo Grotius, father of international law, 1583-1645. + +Jan Six, burgomaster, bibliophile, art connoisseur, and dramatist, +1618-1700. + +Spinoza, philosopher, 1622-1677. + +Joost van den Vondel, poet and dramatist, 1587-1679. + +Jacob Cats, Grand Pensionary and poet, 1577-1660. + +Constantine Huyghens, poet. + +Gysbart Voet (Latin, Voetius) 1588-1678, professor of theology at +Utrecht. + +Cornelis Jansen, born 1585. Professor of scripture interpretation at +Louvain. + +Johannes Koch (Latin, Coccejus), 1603-1669, professor of theology at +Leyden and, "after Erasmus, the father of modern Biblical criticism." + +J. van Kampen, architect, built the Het Palais (Royal Palace) in +Amsterdam, 1648. + +Jansz Vinckenbrink, sculptor. + +Hendrik de Keyser, sculptor. + +Crabeth brothers, designers of stained glass. + +Painters:-- + +Franz Hals, 1584-1666. + +Gerard Honthorst, 1590-1656. + +Albert Cuyp, 1605-1691. + +Jan van Goyen, 1596-1656. + +Jacob Ruysdael, 1625-1682. + +Paul Potter, 1625-1654. + +Jan Lievens, born 1607; died after 1672. + +Salomon Koning, 1609-1668. + +Gerard Terburg, 1608-1681. + +Nicolas Berghem, 1620-1683. + +Jan Steen, 1626-1679. + +Adrian van Ostade, 1610-1685. + +Rembrandt's pupils:-- + +Ferdinand Bol, 1616-1680. + +Govert Flinck, 1615-1660. + +Van den Eeckhont, 1620-1674. + +Gerard Don, 1613-1680. + +Nicolas Maes, 1632-1693. + +Juriaen Ovens, 1623. + +Hendrick Heerschop, born 1620, entered Rembrandt's studio, 1644. + +Carl Fabritius, 1624-1654. + +Samuel van Hoogstraaten, born 1627, with Rembrandt, 1640-1650. + +Aert de Gelder, 1645-1727. + +Less important names: Jan van Glabbeck, Jacobus Levecq, Heyman +Dullaert, Johan Hendricksen, Adriaen Verdael, Cornelis Drost. + + +VI. FOREIGN CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS + +Flemish:-- + +Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640. + +Anthony Van Dyck, 1599-1641. + +Jacob Jordaens, 1594-1678. + +Franz Snyders, 1574-1657. + +Gaspard de Craeyer, 1582-1669. + +David Teniers, 1610-1690. + +Spanish:-- + +Velasquez, 1599-1660. + +Pacheco, 1571-1654. + +Cano, 1601-1676. + +Herrera, 1576-1656. + +Zurbaran, 1598-1662. + +Murillo, 1618-1682. + +French:-- + +Simon Vouet, 1582-1641. + +Charles Le Brun, 1619-1690. + +Eustache Le Sueur, 1617-1655. + +Italian:-- + +Carlo Dolci, 1616-1686. + +Guido Reni, 1575-1642. + +Domenichino, 1581-1641. + +Francesco Albani, 1578-1660. + +Guercino, 1591-1666. + +Sassoferrato, 1605-1685. + + + + +I + +JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL + + +The history of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob reads like a romance. +He was the younger of the two sons of Isaac, and was at a great +disadvantage on this account. Among his people the eldest son always +became the family heir and also received the choicest blessing from +the father, a privilege coveted as much as wealth. In this case +therefore the privileged son was Jacob's brother Esau. Jacob resented +keenly the inequality of his lot; and his mother sympathized with him, +as he was her favorite. A feeling of enmity grew up between the +brothers, and in the end Jacob did Esau a great wrong. + +One day Esau came in from hunting, nearly starved, and finding his +younger brother cooking some lentils, begged a portion of it for +himself. Jacob seized the chance to make a sharp bargain. He offered +his brother the food--which is called in the quaint Bible language a +"mess of pottage"--making him promise in return that he would let +their father give his blessing to the younger instead of the older +son. Esau was a careless fellow, too hungry to think what he was +saying, and so readily yielded. + +But though Esau might sell his birthright in this fashion, the father +would not have been willing to give the blessing to the younger son, +had it not been for a trick planned by the mother. The old man was +nearly blind, and knew his sons apart by the touch of their skin, as +Esau had a rough, hairy skin and Jacob a smooth one. The mother put +skins of kids upon Jacob's hands and neck and bade him go to his +father pretending to be Esau, and seek his blessing. The trick was +successful, and when a little later Esau himself came to his father on +the same errand, he found that he had been superseded. Naturally he +was very angry, and vowed vengeance on his brother. Jacob, fearing for +his life, fled into a place called Padanaram. + +In this place he became a prosperous cattle farmer and grew very rich. +He married there also and had a large family of children. After +fourteen years he bethought himself of his brother Esau and the great +wrong he had done him. He resolved to remove his family to his old +home, and to be reconciled with his brother. Hardly daring to expect +to be favorably received, he sent in advance a large number of cattle +in three droves as a gift to Esau. Then he awaited over night some +news or message from his brother. In the night a strange adventure +befell him. This is the way the story is told in the book of +Genesis.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Genesis, chapter xxxii. verses 24-31.] + +[Illustration: JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL +_Berlin Gallery_] + +"There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when +he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of +his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he +wrestled with him. And he said, 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' And +he said, 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,' And he said +unto him, 'What is thy name?' And he said, 'Jacob,' And he said, 'Thy +name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast +thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.'... And he +blessed him there. + +"And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God +face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel, +the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh;" that is, he +walked halt, or lame. + +The crisis in Jacob's life was passed, for hardly had he set forth on +this morning when he saw his brother whom he had wronged advancing +with four hundred men to meet him. "And Esau ran to meet him, and +embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him: and they wept." + +So were the brothers reconciled. + +The picture represents Jacob wrestling with his mysterious adversary. +We have seen from his history how determined he was to have his own +way, and how he wrested worldly prosperity even from misfortunes. Now +he is equally determined in this higher and more spiritual conflict. +It is a very real struggle, and Jacob has prevailed only by putting +forth his utmost energy. It is the moment when the grand angel, +pressing one knee into the hollow of Jacob's left thigh and laying +his hand on his right side, looks into his face and grants the +blessing demanded as a condition for release. Strong and tender is his +gaze, and the gift he bestows is a new name, in token of the new +character of brotherly love of which this victory is the beginning. + +The story of St. Michael and the Dragon, which Raphael has painted, +stands for the everlasting conflict between good and evil in the +world. There is a like meaning in the story of Jacob's wrestling with +the angel. The struggle is in the human heart between selfish impulses +and higher ideals. The day when one can hold on to the good angel long +enough to win a blessing, is the day which begins a new chapter in a +man's life. + + + + +II + +ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH + + +When Jacob wrestled with the angel he received a new name, Israel, or +a prince, a champion of God. + +Israel became the founder of the great Israelite nation, and from his +twelve sons grew up the twelve tribes of Israel, among whom was +distributed the country now called Palestine. Among these sons the +father's favorite was Joseph, who was next to the youngest. This +favoritism aroused the anger and jealousy of the older brothers, and +they plotted to get rid of him. One day when they were all out with +some flocks in a field quite distant from their home, they thought +they were rid forever of the hated Joseph by selling him to a company +of men who were journeying to Egypt. Then they dipped the lad's coat +in goat's blood and carried it to Israel, who, supposing his son to +have been devoured by a wild beast, mourned him as dead. + +When Joseph had grown to manhood in Egypt, a singular chain of +circumstances brought the brothers together again. There was a sore +famine, and Egypt was the headquarters for the sale of corn. Joseph +had shown himself so able and trustworthy that he was given charge of +selling and distributing the stores of food. So when Israel's older +sons came from their home to Egypt to buy corn they had to apply to +Joseph, whom they little suspected of being the brother they had so +cruelly wronged. There is a pretty story, too long to repeat here, of +how Joseph disclosed himself to his astonished brethren, and forgave +them their cruelty, how he sent for his father to come to Egypt to +live near him, how there was a joyful reunion, and how "they all lived +happily ever after." + +When the time drew near for Israel to die, he desired to bestow his +last blessing on his sons. And first of all his beloved son Joseph +brought him his own two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh. + +Now according to the traditions of the patriarchs, it was the eldest +son who should receive the choicest blessing from his father. Israel, +however, had found among his own sons that it was a younger one, +Joseph, who had proved himself the most worthy of love. This may have +shaken his faith in the wisdom of the old custom. Perhaps, too, he +remembered how his own boyhood had been made unhappy because he was +the younger son, and how he had on that account been tempted to +deceit. + +Whatever the reason, he surprised Joseph at the last moment by showing +a preference for the younger of the two grandsons, Ephraim, expressing +this preference by laying the right hand, instead of the left, on his +head. The blessing was spoken in these solemn words: "God, before whom +my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my +life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, +bless the lads." + +[Illustration: ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH +_Cassel Gallery_] + +The narrative relates[3] that "When Joseph saw that his father laid +his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he +held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto +Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, 'Not so, my father: +for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.' And his +father refused, and said, 'I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall +become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger +brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a +multitude of nations.' And he blessed them that day, saying, 'In thee +shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim, and as +Manasseh;' and he set Ephraim before Manasseh." + +[Footnote 3: Genesis, chapter xlviii. verses 17-20.] + +As we compare the picture with the story, it is easy to identify the +figures. We are naturally interested in Joseph as the hero of so many +romantic adventures. As a high Egyptian official, he makes a dignified +appearance and wears a rich turban. His face is gentle and amiable, as +we should expect of a loving son and forgiving brother. + +In the old man we see the same Jacob who wrestled by night with the +Angel and was redeemed from his life of selfishness. The same strong +face is here, softened by sorrow and made tender by love. The years +have cut deep lines of character in the forehead, and the flowing +beard has become snowy white. + +The dying patriarch has "strengthened himself," to sit up on the bed +for his last duty, and his son Joseph supports him. The children kneel +together by the bedside, the little Ephraim bending his fair head +humbly to receive his grandfather's right hand, Manasseh looking up +alertly, almost resentfully, as he sees that hand passing over his own +head to his brother's. Joseph's wife Asenath, the children's mother, +stands beyond, looking on musingly. We see that it is a moment of very +solemn interest to all concerned. Though the patriarch's eyes are dim +and his hand trembles, his old determined spirit makes itself +manifest. Joseph is in perplexity between his filial respect and his +solicitude for his first-born. He puts his fingers gently under his +father's wrist, trying to lift the hand to the other head. The mother +seems to smile as if well content. Perhaps she shares the +grandfather's preference for little Ephraim. + +The picture is a study in the three ages of man, childhood, manhood, +and old age, brought together by the most tender and sacred ties of +human life, in the circle of the family. + + + + +III + +THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT + + +The story of Tobit is found in what is called the Apocrypha, that is, +a collection of books written very much in the manner of the Bible, +and formerly bound in Bibles between the Old and the New Testament. + +The story goes that when Enemessar, King of Assyria, conquered the +people of Israel, he led away many of them captive into Assyria, among +them the family of Tobit, his wife Anna, and their son Tobias. They +settled in Nineveh, and Tobit, being an honest man, was made purveyor +to the king. That is, it was his business to provide food for the +king's household. + +In this office he was able to lay up a good deal of money, which he +placed for safe keeping in the hands of Gabael, an Israelite who lived +at Rages in Media. Tobit was a generous man, and he did many kind +deeds for his less fortunate fellow exiles; he delighted in feeding +the hungry and clothing the naked. + +When Sennacherib was king of Assyria, many Jews were slain and left +lying in the street, and Tobit, finding their neglected bodies, buried +them secretly. One night, after some such deed of mercy, a sad +affliction befell him. White films came over his eyes, causing total +blindness. In his distress he prayed that he might die, and began to +make preparations for death. He called his son Tobias to him and gave +him much good advice as to his manner of life, and then desired him to +go to Rages to obtain the money left there with Gabael. But Tobias +must first seek a guide for the journey. "Therefore," says the story, +"when he went to seek a man, he found Raphael that was an angel. But +he knew not; and he said unto him, 'Canst thou go with me to Rages? +and knowest thou those places well?' To whom the angel said, 'I will +go with thee, and I know the way well: for I have lodged with our +brother Gabael,'" The angel gave himself the name Azarias. "So they +went forth both, and the young man's dog with them." + +"As they went on their journey, they came in the evening to the river +Tigris, and they lodged there. And when the young man went down to +wash himself, a fish leaped out of the river, and would have devoured +him. Then the angel said unto him, 'Take the fish,' And the young man +laid hold of the fish, and drew it to land. To whom the angel said, +'Open the fish and take the gall, and put it up safely.' So the young +man did as the angel commanded him, and when they had roasted the +fish, they did eat it: then they both went on their way, till they +drew near to Ecbatane. Then the young man said to the angel, 'Brother +Azarias, to what use is the gall of the fish?' And he said unto him, +'It is good to anoint a man that hath whiteness in his eyes, and he +shall be healed.'" + +[Illustration: THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +After this curious incident there were no further adventures till they +came to Ecbatane. Here they lodged with Raguel, a kinsman of Tobit, +and when Tobias saw Sara, the daughter, he loved her and determined to +make her his wife. He therefore tarried fourteen days at Ecbatane, +sending Azarias on to Rages for the money. This delay lengthened the +time allotted for the journey, but at last the company drew near to +Nineveh,--Azarias or Raphael, and Tobias, with the bride, the +treasure, and the precious fishgall. Raphael then gave Tobias +directions to use the gall for his father's eyes. Their arrival was +the cause of great excitement. "Anna ran forth, and fell upon the neck +of her son. Tobit also went forth toward the door, and stumbled: but +his son ran unto him, and took hold of his father: and he strake of +the gall on his father's eyes, saying, 'Be of good hope, my father.' +And when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed them; and the whiteness +pilled away from the corners of his eyes: and when he saw his son, he +fell upon his neck." + +Now Tobit and Tobias were full of gratitude to Azarias for all that he +had done for them, and, consulting together as to how they could +reward him, decided to give him half the treasure. So the old man +called the angel, and said, "Take half of all that ye have brought, +and go away in safety." Then Raphael took them both apart, and said +unto them, "Bless God, praise him, and magnify him, and praise him +for the things which he hath done unto you in the sight of all that +live." + +With this solemn introduction the angel goes on to tell Tobit that he +had been with him when he had buried his dead countrymen, and that his +good deeds were not hid from him, and that his prayers were +remembered. He concludes by showing who he really is. + +"I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers +of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy +One." + +"Then they were both troubled, and fell upon their faces: for they +feared God. But he said unto them, 'Fear not, for it shall go well +with you; praise God therefore. For not of any favor of mine, but by +the will of our God I came; wherefore praise him for ever. All these +days I did appear unto you; but I did neither eat nor drink, but ye +did see a vision. Now therefore give God thanks: for I go up to him +that sent me.'" "And when they arose, they saw him no more." + +The picture shows us the moment when the angel suddenly rises from the +midst of the little company and strikes out on his flight through the +air like a strong swimmer. Tobit and Tobias fall on their knees +without, while Anna and the bride Sara stand in the open door with the +frightened little dog cowering beside them. The older people are +overcome with wonder and awe, but Tobias and Sara, more bold, follow +the radiant vision with rapturous gaze. + + + + +IV + +THE RAT KILLER + + +The pictures we have examined thus far in this collection have been +reproductions from Rembrandt's paintings. You will see at once that +the picture of the Rat Killer is of another kind. The figures and +objects are indicated by lines instead of by masses of color. You +would call it a drawing, and it is in fact a drawing of one kind, but +properly speaking, an etching. An etching is a drawing made on copper +by means of a needle. The etcher first covers the surface of the metal +with a layer of some waxy substance and draws his picture through this +coating, or "etching ground," as it is called. Next he immerses the +copper plate in an acid bath which "bites," or grooves, the metal +along the lines he has drawn without affecting the parts protected by +the etching ground. + +The plate thus has a picture cut into its surface, and impressions of +this picture may be taken by filling the lines with ink and pressing +wet paper to the surface of the plate. You will notice that the +difference between the work of an engraver and that of an etcher is +that the former cuts the lines in his plate with engraving tools, +while the latter only draws his picture on the plate and the acid cuts +the lines. The word etching is derived from the Dutch _etzen_, and +the most famous etchers in the world have been among Dutch and German +artists. + +Rembrandt is easily first of these, and we should have but a limited +idea of his work if we did not examine some of his pictures of this +kind. Impressions made directly from the original plates, over two +centuries ago, are, of course, very rare and valuable, and are +carefully preserved in the great libraries and museums of the world. +There is a collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where this +etching of the Rat Killer may be seen. + +The Rat Killer is one of many subjects from the scenes of common life +which surrounded the artist. In smaller towns and villages, then as +well as now, there were no large shops where goods were to be bought. +Instead, all sorts of peddlers and traveling mechanics went from house +to house--the knife grinder, the ragman, the fiddler, and many others. +This picture of the Rat Killer suggests a very odd occupation. The +pest of rats is, of course, much greater in old than in new countries. +In Europe, and perhaps particularly in the northern countries of +Holland and Germany, the old towns and villages have long been +infested with these troublesome creatures. + +[Illustration: THE RAT KILLER +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +There are some curious legends about them. One relates how a certain +Bishop Hatto, as a judgment for his sins, was attacked by an army of +rats which swam across the Rhine and invaded him in his island tower, +where they made short work of their victim.[4] Another tells how a +town called Hamelin was overrun with rats until a magic piper appeared +who so charmed them with his enchanted music that they gathered about +him and followed his leading till they came to the river and were +drowned.[5] + +[Footnote 4: See Southey's poem, Bishop Hatto.] + +[Footnote 5: See Browning's poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin.] + +The old Rat Killer in the picture looks suspiciously like a magician. +It seems as if he must have bewitched the rats which crawl friskily +about him, one perching on his shoulders. He reminds one of some ogre +out of a fairy tale, with his strange tall cap, his kilted coat, and +baggy trousers, the money pouch at his belt, the fur mantle flung over +one shoulder, and the fierce-looking sword dangling at his side. But +there is no magic in his way of killing rats. He has some rat poison +to sell which his apprentice, a miserable little creature, carries in +a large box. + +The picture gives us an idea of an old Dutch village street. The +cottages are built very low, with steep overhanging roofs. The walls +are of thick masonry, for these were days when in small villages and +outlying districts "every man's house was his castle," that is, every +man's house was intended, first of all, as a place of defense against +outlawry. + +The entrance doors were made in two sections, an upper and a lower +part, or wing, each swinging on its own hinges. Whenever a knock came, +the householder could open the upper wing and address the caller as +through a window, first learning who he was and what his errand, +before opening the lower part to admit him. Thus an unwelcome intruder +could not press his way into the house by the door's being opened at +his knock, and the family need not be taken unawares. In many of our +modern houses we see doors made after the same plan, and known as +"Dutch doors." + +The cautious old man in the picture has no intention of being imposed +upon by wandering fakirs. He has opened only the upper door and leans +on the lower wing, as on a gate, while he listens to the Rat Killer's +story. The latter must have a marvellous tale to tell of the effects +of the poison, from the collection of dead rats which he carries as +trophies in the basket fastened to the long pole in his hand. But the +householder impatiently pushes his hand back, and turns away as if +with disgust. The apprentice, grotesque little rat himself, looks up +rather awestruck at this grand, turbaned figure above him. + + + + +V + +THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION + + +Ever since the beginning of human history there have been people who +puzzled their brains about the reasons of things. Why things are as +they are, whence we came, and whither we are going are some of the +perplexing questions they have tried to answer. Some men have given +all their lives to the study of these problems as a single occupation +or profession. Among the ancient Greeks, who were a very intellectual +nation, such men were quite numerous and were held in great esteem as +teachers. They were called philosophers, that is, lovers of wisdom, +and this word has been passed down to our own times in various modern +languages. + +In the passing of the centuries men found more and more subjects to +think about. Some studied the movements of the stars and tried to +discover if they had any influence in human affairs. These men were +called astrologers, and they drew plans, known as horoscopes, mapping +out the future destiny of persons as revealed by the position of the +constellations. There were other men who examined the various +substances of which the earth is composed, putting them together to +make new things. These were alchemists, and their great ambition was +to find some preparation which would change baser metals into gold. +This hoped-for preparation was spoken of as the "philosopher's stone." + +Now modern learning has changed these vague experiments into exact +science; astronomy has replaced astrology, and chemistry has taken the +place of alchemy. Nevertheless these changes were brought about only +very gradually, and in the 17th century, when Rembrandt lived and +painted this picture, a great stir was made by the new ideas of +astronomy taught by Galileo in Italy, and the new discoveries in +chemistry made by Van Helmont in Belgium. Many philosophers still held +to the old beliefs of astrology and alchemy. + +It is not likely that Rembrandt had any one philosopher in mind as the +subject of his picture. That his philosopher is something of a +scholar, we judge from the table at which he sits, littered with +writing materials. Yet he seems to care less for reading than for +thinking, as he sits with hands clasped in his lap and his head sunk +upon his breast. He wears a loose, flowing garment like a +dressing-gown, and his bald head is protected by a small skull cap. +His is an ideal place for a philosopher's musings. The walls are so +thick that they shut out all the confusing noise of the world. A +single window lets in light enough to read by through its many tiny +panes. It is a bare little room, to be sure, with its ungarnished +walls and stone-paved floor, but if a philosopher has the ordinary +needs of life supplied he wants no luxuries. He asks for nothing +more than quiet and uninterrupted leisure in which to pursue his +meditations. + +[Illustration: THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +Our philosopher is well taken care of; for while his thoughts are on +higher things and eternal truths, an old woman is busy at the fire in +the corner. Evidently she looks after the material and temporal things +of life. She kneels on the hearth and hangs a kettle over the cheerful +blaze. The firelight glows on her face and gleams here and there on +the brasses hanging in the chimney-piece above. Here is promise of +something good to come, and when the philosopher is roused from his +musings there will be a hot supper ready for him. + +There are two mysteries in the room which arouse our curiosity. In the +wall behind the philosopher's chair is a low, arched door heavily +built with large hinges. Does this lead to some subterranean cavern, +and what secret does it contain? Is it a laboratory where, with +alembic and crucible, the philosopher searches the secrets of alchemy +and tries to find the "philosopher's stone?" Is some hid treasure +stored up there, as precious and as hard to reach as the hidden truths +the philosopher tries to discover? + +At the right side of the room a broad, winding staircase rises in +large spirals and disappears in the gloom above. We follow it with +wondering eyes which try to pierce the darkness and see whither it +leads. Perhaps there is an upper chamber with windows open to the sky +whence the philosopher studies the stars. This place with its winding +staircase would be just such an observatory as an astrologer would +like. Indeed it suggests at once the tower on the hillside near +Florence where Galileo passed his declining years. + +Our philosopher, too, is an old man; his hair has been whitened by +many winters, his face traced over with many lines of thought. Even if +his problems have not all been solved he has found rich satisfaction +in his thinking; the end of his meditations is peace. The day is +drawing to a close. The waning light falls through the window and +illumines the philosopher's venerable face. It throws the upper spiral +of the stairway into bold relief, and brings out all the beautiful +curves in its structure. The bare little room is transfigured. This is +indeed a fit dwelling-place for a philosopher whose thoughts, +penetrating dark mysteries, are at last lighted by some gleams of the +ideal. + + + + +VI + +THE GOOD SAMARITAN + + +The story of the Good Samaritan was related by Jesus to a certain +lawyer as a parable, that is, a story to teach a moral lesson. The +object was to show what was true neighborly conduct; and this was the +story:--[6] + +"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among +thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and +departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a +certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the +other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and +looked on him, and passed by on the other side. + +"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when +he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up +his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and +brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he +departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said +unto him, 'Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I +come again I will repay thee.'" + +[Footnote 6: St. Luke, chapter x. verses 30-37.] + +The point of the story is very plain, and when Jesus asked the lawyer +which one of the three passers-by was a neighbor to the wounded man, +he was forced to reply, "He that shewed mercy." Then said Jesus +simply, "Go, and do thou likewise." + +Though the scene of the story is laid in Palestine, it is the sort of +incident which one can imagine taking place in any country or period +of time. So it seems perfectly proper that Rembrandt, in representing +the subject, should show us an old Dutch scene. The etching +illustrates that moment when the Good Samaritan arrives at the inn, +followed by the wounded traveler mounted on his horse. + +The building is a quaint piece of architecture with arched doors and +windows. That it was built with an eye to possible attacks from +thieves and outlaws, we may see from the small windows and thick walls +of masonry, which make it look like a miniature fortress. This is a +lonely spot, and inns are few and far between. The plaster is cracking +and crumbling from the surface, and the whole appearance of the place +does not betoken great thrift on the part of the owners. On the +present occasion, during the working hours of the day, doors and +windows are open after the hospitable manner of an inn. + +The host stands in the doorway, greeting the strangers, and the Good +Samaritan is explaining the situation to him. In the mean time the inn +servants have come forward: the hostler's boy holds the horse by the +bridle, while a man lifts off the wounded traveler. + +[Illustration: THE GOOD SAMARITAN +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +About the dooryard are the usual signs of life. In the rear a woman +draws water from a well, lowering the bucket from the end of a long +well-sweep, heedless of the stir about the door. Fowl scratch about in +search of food, and there is a dog at one side. Some one within looks +with idle curiosity from the window into the yard. It is little +touches like these which give the scene such vividness and reality. + +There is also a remarkable expressiveness in the figures which tells +the story at a glance. You can see just what the Good Samaritan is +saying, as he gestures with his left hand, and you can guess the +inn-keeper's reply. Already he has put the proffered money into the +wallet he carries at his belt, and listens attentively to the orders +given him. He may privately wonder at his guest's singular kindness to +a stranger, but with him business is business, and his place is to +carry out his guest's wishes. + +You see how the hostler's boy magnifies his office, swaggering with +legs wide apart. Even the feather in his cap bristles with importance. +This bit of comedy contrasts with the almost tragic expression of the +wounded man. The stolid fellow who lifts him seems to hurt him very +much, and he clasps his hands in an agony of pain. He seems to be +telling the gentleman at the window of his recent misfortune. + +To study the picture more critically, it will be interesting to notice +how the important figures are massed together in the centre, and how +the composition is built into a pyramid. Draw a line from the +inn-keeper's head down the stairway at the left, and follow the +outline of the Good Samaritan's right shoulder along the body of the +wounded traveler, and you have the figure. This pyramidal form is +emphasized again by the wainscot of the stairway at the left, and the +well-sweep at the right. + +To appreciate fully the character of the etching, one must examine +attentively all the different kinds of lines which produce the varying +effects of light and shadow. Below the picture Rembrandt wrote his +name and the date 1633, with two Latin words meaning that he designed +and etched the plate himself. This would seem to show that he was well +pleased with his work, and it is interesting to learn that the great +German poet, Goethe, admired the composition extravagantly. + + + + +VII + +THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE + + +The story which the picture of the Presentation illustrates is a story +of the infancy of Jesus Christ. According to the custom of the Jews at +that time, every male child was "presented," or dedicated, to the Lord +when about a month old. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, a small +town about four miles from the city of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, +where the temple was. When he was about a month old, his mother Mary +and her husband Joseph, who were devout Jews, brought him to the great +city for the ceremony of the presentation in the temple. Now the +temple was a great place of worship where many religious ceremonies +were taking place all the time. + +Ordinarily, a party coming up from the country for some religious +observance would not attract any special attention among the +worshippers. But on the day when the infant Jesus was presented in the +temple, a very strange thing occurred. The evangelist St. Luke[7] +relates the circumstances. + +[Footnote 7: St. Luke, chapter ii. verses 25-35.] + +"And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and +the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of +Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him +by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death, before he had seen the +Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the +parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of +the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, +Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy +word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared +before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the +glory of thy people Israel. + +"And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken +of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold +this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and +for a sign which shall be spoken against; that the thought of many +hearts may be revealed." + +[Illustration: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE +_The Hague Gallery_] + +In the picture we find ourselves, as it were, among the worshippers in +the temple, looking at the group on the pavement in front of us--Mary +and Joseph and Simeon, kneeling before a priest, with two or three +onlookers. It is a Gothic cathedral, in whose dim recesses many people +move hither and thither. At the right is a long flight of steps +leading to a throne, which is overshadowed by a huge canopy. At the +top of the steps we see the high priest seated with hands +outstretched, receiving the people who throng up the stairway. It was +towards this stairway that Mary and Joseph were making their way, +when the aged Simeon first saw them, and recognized in the child +they carried the one he had long expected. Taking the babe from his +mother's arms, he kneels on the marble-tiled pavement and raises his +face to heaven in thanksgiving. His embroidered cymar, or robe, falls +about him in rich folds as he clasps his arms about the tiny swaddled +figure. + +Mary has dropped on her knees beside him, listening to his words with +happy wonder. Joseph, just beyond, looks on with an expression of +inquiry. He carries two turtle doves as the thank offering required of +the mother by the religious law. His unkempt appearance and bare feet +contrast with the neat dress of Mary. The tall priest standing before +them extends his hands towards the group in a gesture of benediction. +A broad ray of light gleams on his strange headdress, lights up his +outstretched hand, and falls with dazzling brilliancy upon the soft +round face of the babe, the smiling mother, and the venerable Simeon +with flowing white hair and beard. + +There are but few people to pay any heed to the strange incident. Two +or three of those who climb the stairway turn about and stare +curiously at the group below. There are three others still more +interested. One man behind puts his turbaned head over Simeon's +shoulders, peering inquisitively at the child, as if trying to see +what the old man finds so remarkable in him. Beyond, two old beggars +approach with a sort of good-natured interest. They are quaintly +dressed, one of them wearing a very tall cap. Such humble folk as +these alone seem to have time to notice others' affairs. + +It must not be supposed that this scene very closely represents the +actual event it illustrates. The painter Rembrandt knew nothing about +the architecture of the old Jewish temple destroyed many centuries +before. A Gothic cathedral was the finest house of worship known to +him, so he thought out the scene as it would look in such +surroundings. The people coming and going were such as he saw about +him daily; the beggars looking at the Christ-child were the beggars of +Amsterdam, and the men seated in the wooden settle at the right were +like the respectable Dutch burghers of his acquaintance. It was like +translating the story from Aramaic to Dutch, but in the process +nothing is lost of its original touching beauty. + +In studying the picture, you must notice how carefully all the figures +are painted, even the very small ones in the darkest parts of the +composition. The beautiful contrast, between the light on the central +group and the soft dimness of the remoter parts of the cathedral, +illustrates a style of work for which Rembrandt was very famous, and +which we shall often see in his pictures. + + + + +VIII + +CHRIST PREACHING + + +We read in the evangelists' record of the life of Jesus that he went +about the country preaching the gospel (or the good news) of the +kingdom of Heaven. Sometimes he preached in the synagogue on the +Sabbath day; but more often he talked to the people in the open air, +sometimes on the mountain-side, sometimes on the shore of the lake +Gennesaret, or again in the streets of their towns. + +The scribes and Pharisees were jealous of his popularity, and angry +because he exposed their hypocrisy. The proud and rich found many of +his sayings too hard to accept. So it was the poor and unhappy who +were most eager to hear him, and they often formed a large part of his +audience. Jesus himself rejoiced in this class of followers, and when +John the Baptist's messengers came to him to inquire into his mission, +he sent back the message, "The poor have the gospel preached to them." + +In this picture of Christ Preaching, we see that his hearers are of +just the kind that the preacher's message is intended for,--the weary +and heavy-laden whom he called to himself. There are a few dignitaries +in the gathering, it is true, standing pompously by in the hope of +finding something to criticise. But Jesus pays no attention to them +as he looks down into the faces of the listeners who most need his +words. His pulpit is a square coping-stone in a courtyard, and the +people gather about him in a circle in the positions most convenient +to them. + +There is no formality here, no ceremony; each one may come and go as +he pleases. Here is a mother sitting on the ground directly in front +of the speaker, holding a babe in her arms, while a little fellow +sprawls out on the ground beside her, drawing on the sand with his +finger. Though we cannot see her face, we know that she is an absorbed +listener, and Jesus seems to speak directly to her. + +A pathetic-looking man beyond her is trying to take in the message in +a wondering way, and a long-bearded man behind him is so aroused that +he leans eagerly forward to catch every word. There are others, as is +always the case, who listen very stolidly as if quite indifferent. + +Again there are two who ponder the subject thoughtfully. One of these +is in the rear,--a young man, perhaps one of Jesus' disciples; the +other sits in front, crossing his legs, and supporting his chin with +his hand. In the group at the right of Jesus we can easily pick out +the scoffers and critics, listening intently, some of them more +interested, perhaps, than they had expected to be. + +[Illustration: CHRIST PREACHING +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +As we look at Jesus himself, so gentle and tender, raising both hands +as if to bless the company, we feel sure that he is speaking some +message of comfort. One day when he was reading the Scriptures in +the synagogue at Capernaum, he selected a passage which described his +own work, and which perfectly applies to this picture. We can imagine +that he is saying: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the +Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath +sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the +captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to +proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of +our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in +Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, +the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." + +It is a noticeable fact that the figures in this picture of Christ +preaching are Dutch types. If you think that this is a strange way to +illustrate scenes which took place in Palestine many centuries ago, +you must remember that the picture was drawn by a Dutchman who knew +nothing of Palestine, and indeed little of any country outside his own +Holland. He wished to make the life of Christ seem real and vivid to +his own countrymen; and the only way he could do this was to represent +the scenes in the surroundings most familiar to himself and to them. +The artist was simply trying to imagine what Jesus would do if he had +come to Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, instead of to Jerusalem +in the first century; somewhat as certain modern writers have tried to +think what would take place "If Jesus came to Chicago," or "If Jesus +came to Boston," in the nineteenth century. The sweet gentleness in +the face of Christ and the eager attention of the people show how well +Rembrandt understood the real meaning of the New Testament. + +This picture is worthy of very special study because it is reckoned by +critics one of the best of Rembrandt's etchings. One enthusiastic +writer[8] says that "the full maturity of his genius is expressed in +every feature." One must know a great deal about the technical +processes of etching to appreciate fully all these excellencies; but +even an inexperienced eye can see how few and simple are the lines +which produce such striking effects of light and shadow: a scratch or +two here, a few parallel lines drawn diagonally there; some coarse +cross-hatching in one place, closer hatching in another; now and then +a spot of the black ink itself,--and the whole scene is made alive, +with Jesus standing in the midst, the light gleaming full upon his +figure. + +[Footnote 8: Michel.] + + + + +IX + +CHRIST AT EMMAUS + + +The picture of Christ at Emmaus illustrates an event in the narrative +of Christ's life which took place on the evening of the first Easter +Sunday. It was now three days since the Crucifixion of Christ just +outside Jerusalem, and the terrible scene was still very fresh in the +minds of his disciples. It happened that late in the day two of them +were going to a village called Emmaus, not very far from Jerusalem. + +They made the journey on foot, and as they walked along the way, "they +talked together," says the evangelist[9] who tells the story, "of all +those things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they +communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with +them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he +said unto them, 'What manner of communications are these that ye have +one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?' And the one of them, whose +name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, 'Art thou only a stranger +in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass +there in these days?' And he said unto them, 'What things?' And they +said unto him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth.'" Then followed a +conversation in which they told the stranger something of Jesus, and +he in turn explained to them many things about the life and character +of Jesus which they had never understood. + +[Footnote 9: St. Luke, chapter xxiv. verses 13-32.] + +"And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made +as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, +saying, 'Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far +spent.' And he went in to tarry with them. + +"And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and +blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened +and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said +one to another, 'Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked +with us by the way?'" + +The picture suggests vividly to us that wonderful moment at Emmaus +when the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognized their +guest as Jesus, whom they had so recently seen crucified. The table is +laid in a great bare room with the commonest furnishings, and the +disciples appear to be laboring men, accustomed to "plain living and +high thinking." They are coarsely dressed, and their feet are bare, as +are also the feet of Jesus. One seems to have grasped the situation +more quickly than the other, for he folds his hands together, +reverently gazing directly into the face of Jesus. His companion, +an older man, at the other end of the table, looks up astonished and +mystified. The boy who is bringing food to the table is busy with his +task, and does not notice any change in Jesus. + +[Illustration: CHRIST AT EMMAUS +_The Louvre, Paris_] + +In the midst is Christ, "pale, emaciated, sitting facing us, breaking +the bread as on the evening of the Last Supper, in his pilgrim robe, +with his blackened lips, on which the torture has left its traces, his +great brown eyes soft, widely opened, and raised towards heaven, with +his cold nimbus, a sort of phosphorescence around him which envelops +him in an indefinable glory, and that inexplicable look of a breathing +human being who certainly has passed through death." + +This description is by a celebrated French critic,[10] himself a +painter, who knows whereof he speaks. He says that this picture alone +is enough to establish the reputation of a man. + +[Footnote 10: Fromentin, in _Old Masters of Belgium and Holland._] + +There is one artistic quality in the picture to which we must pay +careful attention, as it is particularly characteristic of Rembrandt. +This is the way in which the light and shadow are arranged, or what a +critic would call the chiaroscuro of the picture. The heart of the +composition glows with a golden light which comes from some unseen +source. It falls on the white tablecloth with a dazzling brilliancy as +if from some bright lamp. It gleams on the faces of the company, +bringing out their expressions clearly. The arched recess behind the +table is thrown into heavy shadow, against which the centrally lighted +group is sharply contrasted. + +This singular manner of bringing light and darkness into striking +opposition makes the objects in a picture stand out very vividly. Some +one has defined chiaroscuro as the "art of rendering the atmosphere +visible and of painting an object enveloped in air." The art was +carried to perfection by Rembrandt. You will notice it more or less in +every picture of this collection, but nowhere is it more appropriate +than here, where the appearance of Christ, as the source of light, +emphasizes the mystery of the event and makes something sacred of this +common scene. + +As we compare this picture with the etching of Christ Preaching, we +get a better idea of Rembrandt's aim in representing Christ. He did +not try to make his face beautiful with regular classical features, +after the manner of the old Italian painters. He did not even think it +necessary to make his figure grand and imposing. Something still +better Rembrandt sought to put into his picture, and this was a gentle +expression of love. + + + + +X + +PORTRAIT OF SASKIA + + +We should have but a very imperfect idea of Rembrandt's work if we did +not learn something about the portraits he painted. It was for these +that he was most esteemed in his own day, being the fashionable +portrait painter of Amsterdam at a time when every person of means +wished to have his likeness painted. A collection of his works of this +kind would almost bring back again the citizens of Amsterdam in the +seventeenth century, so life-like are these wonderful canvases. Among +them we should find the various members of his family, his father and +mother, his sister, his servant, his son, and most interesting of all, +his beloved wife, Saskia. + +Saskia was born in Friesland, one of nine children of a wealthy +patrician family. Her father, Rombertus van Uylenborch, was a +distinguished lawyer, who had had several important political missions +intrusted to him. At one time he was sent as a messenger to William of +Orange, and was sitting at table with that prince just before his +assassination. He died in 1624, leaving Saskia an orphan, as she had +lost her mother five years before. The little girl of twelve now began +to live in turn with her married sisters. At the age of twenty she +came to Amsterdam to live for a while with her cousin, the wife of a +minister, Jan Cornelis Sylvius, whose face we know from one of +Rembrandt's etchings. Saskia had also another cousin living in +Amsterdam, Hendrick van Uylenborch, a man of artistic tastes, who had +not succeeded as a painter, and had become a dealer in bric-a-brac and +engravings. He was an old friend of Rembrandt; and when the young +painter came to seek his fortune in the great city in 1631, he had +made his home for a while with the art dealer. + +It was doubtless Hendrick who introduced Rembrandt to Saskia. Probably +the beginning of their acquaintance was through Rembrandt's painting +Saskia's portrait in 1632. The relation between them soon grew quite +friendly, for in the same year the young girl sat two or three times +again to the painter. The friendship presently ended in courtship, and +when Rembrandt pressed his suit the marriage seemed a very proper one. +Saskia was of a fine family and had a sufficient dowry. + +Rembrandt, though the son of a miller, was already a famous painter, +much sought after for portraits, and with a promising career before +him. The engagement was therefore approved by her guardians, but +marriage being deferred till she came of age, the courtship lasted two +happy years. During this time Rembrandt painted his lady love over and +over again. It was one of his artistic methods to paint the same +person many times. He was not one of the superficial painters who +turn constantly from one model to another in search of new effects. He +liked to make an exhaustive study of a single face in many moods, with +many expressions and varied by different costumes. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF SASKIA +_Cassel Gallery_] + +Saskia had small eyes and a round nose, and was not at all beautiful +according to classical standards. Rembrandt, however, cared less for +beauty than for expression, and Saskia's face was very expressive, at +times merry and almost roguish, and again quite serious. She had also +a brilliant complexion and an abundance of silky hair, waving from her +forehead. The painter had collected in his studio many pretty and +fantastic things to use in his pictures,--velvets and gold embroidered +cloaks, Oriental stuffs, laces, necklaces, and jewels. With these he +loved to deck Saskia, heightening her girlish charms with the play of +light upon these adornments. + +One of the most famous of the many portraits of Saskia at this time is +the picture we have here. Because it is not signed and dated, after +Rembrandt's usual custom, it is thought that it was intended as a gift +for Saskia herself, and thus it has a romantic interest for us. Also +it is painted with extreme care, as the work of a lover offering the +choicest fruit of his art. + +The artist has arranged a picturesque costume for his sitter,--a +broad-brimmed hat of red velvet with a sweeping white feather, an +elaborate dress with embroidered yoke and full sleeves, a rich mantle +draped over one shoulder, necklace, earrings, and bracelets of +pearls. Her expression is more serious here than usual, though very +happy, as if she was thinking of her lover; and in her hand she +carries a sprig of rosemary, which in Holland is the symbol of +betrothal, holding it near her heart. + +The marriage finally took place in June, 1634, in the town of Bildt. +The bridal pair then returned to Amsterdam to a happy home life. +Rembrandt had no greater pleasure than in the quiet family circle, and +Saskia had a simple loving nature, entirely devoted to her husband's +happiness. A few years later Rembrandt moved into a fine house in the +Breestraat, which he furnished richly with choice paintings and works +of art. + +A succession of portraits shows that the painter continued to paint +his wife with loving pride. He represented her as a Jewish bride, as +Flora, as an Odalisque, a Judith, a Susanna, and a Bathsheba. There is +one painting of the husband and wife together, Saskia perched like a +child on Rembrandt's knee, as he flourishes a wine-glass in the air. +In another picture (an etching) they sit together at a table about the +evening lamp, the wife with her needle-work, the artist with his +engraving. The love between them is the brightest spot in Rembrandt's +history, clouded as it was with many disappointments and troubles. As +a celebrated writer has expressed it, Saskia was "a ray of sunshine in +the perpetual chiaroscuro of his life." + + + + +XI + +THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD, OR THE NIGHT WATCH + + +The patriotism of the Dutch is seen through the entire history of +"brave little Holland." Early in the sixteenth century every town of +considerable size had a military company composed of the most +prominent citizens. Each company, or guild, had a place of assembly, +or _doelen_, and a drilling-ground. The officers were chosen for a +year, and the highest appointments were those of captain, lieutenant, +and ensign. Upon these civic guards rested the responsibility of +maintaining the order and safety of the town. Sterner duties than +these were theirs when in the late sixteenth century (1573), at the +call of William of Orange, the various guilds formed themselves into +volunteer companies to resist the Spanish. How well they acquitted +themselves is a matter of history, and Spain recognized the republic +in the treaty of 1609. After the war, many of the corporations were +reorganized and continued to be of great importance in the seventeenth +century. + +The picture we have here represents the Civic Guard of Amsterdam +during the captaincy of Frans Banning Cocq in 1642. Cocq was a man of +wealth and influence who had purchased the estate of Purmerland in +1618 and had also been granted a patent of nobility. So it was natural +that Lord Purmerland, one of the most distinguished citizens of the +town, should be called to a term of office as captain of the Civic +Guard. His magnificent stature and manly bearing show him well fitted +for the honor. + +The picture represents an occasion when the guard issues from the +assembly hall, or doelen, in a sudden call to action. Captain Cocq +leads the way with Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenberg, of Vlaerdingen, +and as he advances gives orders to his fellow officer. The drum beats, +the ensign unfurls the standard, every man carries a weapon of some +sort. One is priming a musket, another loading his gun, another +firing. A mass of lance-bearers press on from the rear. In the +confusion a dog scampers into the midst and barks furiously at the +drum. A little girl slips into the crowd on the other side, oddly out +of place in such company, but quite fearless. It has been suggested +that she may have been the bearer of the tidings which calls the guard +forth. The quaint figure is clad in a long dress of some shimmering +stuff, and she has the air of a small princess. From her belt hangs a +cock, and she turns her face admiringly towards the great captain. + +[Illustration: SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD +_Ryks Museum, Amsterdam_] + +We do not know of any historical incident which precisely corresponds +to the action in the picture. Indeed, it is not strictly speaking an +historical picture at all, but rather a portrait group of the Civic +Guard, in attitudes appropriate to their character as a military +body. They may be going out for target practice or for a shooting +match such as was held annually as a trial of skill; it may be a +parade, or it may be, as some have fancied, a call to arms against a +sudden attack from the enemy. In any case the noticeable thing is the +readiness with which all respond to the call--the spirit of patriotism +which animates the body. The Dutch are not naturally warlike, but +rather a peace-loving people; lacking the quick impulsiveness of a +more nervous race, they are of a somewhat heavy and deliberate temper; +yet they have the solid worth which can be counted on in an emergency, +and in love of country they are united to a man. Benjamin Franklin +once said of Holland, "In love of liberty, and bravery in the defense +of it, she has been our great example." + +The picture cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of its +history. Painted for the hall of the Amsterdam Musketeers, it was to +take its place among others by contemporary painters, as a portrait +group in honor of the officers of the year, and as a lasting memorial +of their services. The other pictures had been stiff groups about a +table, and the novelty of Rembrandt's composition displeased some of +the members of the guild. Each person who figures in the scene had +subscribed a certain sum towards the cost of the picture for his own +portrait, and was anxious to get his money's worth. Consequently, +there were many who did not at all relish their insignificance in the +background, quite overshadowed by the glory of the captain and +lieutenant. They thought they would have shown to much better +advantage arranged in rows. + +It was Rembrandt's way when painting a portrait to give life and +reality to the figure, by showing the leading element in the character +or occupation of the person. Thus his shipbuilder is designing a ship, +the writing master, Coppenol, is mending a pen, the architect has his +drawing utensils, and the preacher his Bible. So in the Civic Guard +each man carries a weapon, and the figures are united in spirited +action. All this artistic motive was lost upon those for whom the +picture was painted, because of their petty vanity. So the great +painting, now so highly esteemed, was not a success at the time. + +In the following century it was removed to the town hall; and in order +to fit it into a particular place on the wall, a strip was cut off +each side the canvas. It is the loss of these margins which gives the +composition the crowded appearance which so long seemed a strange +fault in a great artist like Rembrandt. + +The original colors of the painting grew so dark with the accumulation +of smoke in the hall that the critics supposed the scene occurred at +night, hence the incorrect name of the Night Watch was given to it. +Since the picture was cleaned, in 1889, it is apparent that the +incident occurred in the daytime, and if you look carefully you can +plainly see the shadow of Captain Cocq's hand on the lieutenant's +tunic. + + + + +XII + +PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX + + +When the painter Rembrandt came to Amsterdam in 1631, a young man +seeking his fortune in the great city, a lad of twelve years was +living in his father's country seat, near by, who was later to become +one of his warm friends. This was Jan Six, the subject of the portrait +etching reproduced here. There was a great contrast in the +circumstances of life in which the two friends grew up. Rembrandt was +the son of a miller, and had his own way to make in the world. Jan Six +was surrounded from his earliest years with everything which tended to +the gratification of his natural taste for culture. Rembrandt's rare +talent, however, overbalanced any lack of early advantages, and made +him a friend worth having. + +Six had come of Huguenot ancestry. His grandfather had fled to Holland +during the Huguenot persecution in France, and had become a resident +in Amsterdam in 1585. Jan's father, another Jan, had married a Dutch +lady of good family, whose maiden name was Anna Wijmer. It was in the +service of this good lady that we first hear of Rembrandt's connection +with the Six family. He was called to paint her portrait in 1641, and +must have then, if not before, made the acquaintance of her young +son, Jan. Jan united to a great love of learning a love of everything +beautiful, and was an ardent collector of objects of art. Paintings of +the old Italian and early Dutch schools, rare prints and curios of +various kinds, were his delight. He found in Rembrandt a man after his +own heart. Already the painter had gone far beyond his means in +filling his own house with costly works of art. So the two men, having +a hobby in common, found a strong bond of union in their congenial +tastes. We may be sure that they were often together, to show their +new purchases and discuss their beauty. + +Rembrandt, as an older and more experienced collector, would doubtless +have good advice to offer his younger friend, and, an artist himself, +would know how to judge correctly a work of art. One record of their +friendship in these years is a little etched landscape which Rembrandt +made in 1641, showing a bridge near the country estate of the Six +family, a place called Elsbroek, near the village of Hillegom. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +It was in 1647 that Rembrandt made this portrait of his friend, then +twenty-nine years of age. Six had now begun to make a name for himself +in the world of letters as a scholar and poet. He had already +published a poem on Muiderberg (a village near Amsterdam), and by this +time, doubtless, had under way his great literary work, the tragedy of +Medaea. Many were the times when Rembrandt, coming to his house to talk +over some new treasure-trove, found him in his library with his +head buried in a book, and his thoughts far away. It was in such a +moment that he must have had the idea of this beautiful portrait. He +catches his friend one day in the corner of his library, standing with +his back to the window to get the light on the book he is reading. He +transfers the picture to a copper plate and hands it down to future +generations. + +The slender figure of the young man is clad in the picturesque dress +of a gentleman of his time, with knee-breeches and low shoes, with +wide white collar and cuffs. His abundant wavy blond hair falls to his +shoulders; he has the air of a true poet. In his eagerness to read, he +has flung his cavalier's cloak on the window seat behind him, a part +of it dropping upon a chair beyond. Its voluminous folds make a +cushion for him, as he leans gracefully against the window ledge. His +sword and belt lie on the chair with the cloak. For the moment the pen +is mightier than the sword. The furnishings of the room show the +owner's tastes; a pile of folio volumes fill a low chair, an antique +picture hangs on the wall. + +The young man's face is seen by the light reflected from the pages of +his open book. It is a refined, sensitive face, of high intellectual +cast, amiable withal, and full of imagination. He is completely +absorbed in his reading, a smile playing about his mouth. How little +of a fop and how much of a poet he is, we see from his disordered +collar. Breathing quickly as he bends over his book, in his +excitement he cannot endure the restraint of a close collar. He has +unloosed it, as, quite oblivious of any untidiness in his appearance, +he hurries on, ruthlessly crushing the pages of the folio back, as he +grasps it in his hand. + +The friendship between Six and Rembrandt seemed to grow apace; for +when the tragedy of Medaea was published, in 1648, it was illustrated +by a magnificent etching by Rembrandt, representing the Marriage of +Jason and Creusa. + +The literary work of Jan Six led the way to various public honors. In +1656 he became commissioner of marriages; in 1667, a member of the +Council of the States General of Holland, and in 1691, burgomaster of +Amsterdam. His continued friendship for Rembrandt was shown in his +purchasing a number of the latter's paintings. Rembrandt at length +painted a magnificent portrait of his friend in his old age, which, +with the portrait of his mother and the original plate for this +etching, still remains in the Six family in Amsterdam. Referring to +the portrait of Jan Six, the famous Dutch poet, Vondel, contemporary +of Rembrandt and Six, paid a fitting tribute to the great burgomaster, +as a "lover of science, art, and virtue." + + + + +XII + +PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN + + +The story is told of a little child who, upon being introduced to a +kind-faced lady, looked up brightly into her eyes with the question, +"Whose mother are you?" When we look into the wrinkled old face of +this picture, the same sort of a question springs to mind, and we +involuntarily ask, "Whose grandmother are you?" We are sure that +children and grandchildren have leaned upon that capacious lap. The +name of the subject is not known, though the same face appears many +times in Rembrandt's works. But there are many people whose names we +can quote, of whom we know much less than of this old woman. + +The story of her life is written in the picture. Those clasped hands, +large and knotted, have done much hard work. They have ministered to +the needs of two generations. They have dandled the baby on her knee, +and supported the little toddler taking his first steps. They have +tended the child and wrought for the youth. They have built the fire +on the hearth and swept out the house; they have kneaded the bread and +filled the kettle; they have spun and woven, and sewed and mended. +They have not even shrunk from the coarser labors of dooryard and +field, the care of the cattle, the planting and harvesting. But labor +has done nothing to coarsen the innate refinement of the soul which +looks out of the fine old face. + +She is resting now. The children and grandchildren have grown up to +take care of themselves and their grandmother also. She has time to +sit down in the twilight of life, just as she used to sit down at the +close of each day's work, to think over what has happened. She has a +large comfortable chair, and she is neatly dressed, as befits an old +woman whose life work is done. A white kerchief is folded across her +bosom, a shawl is wrapped about her shoulders, and a hood droops over +her forehead. Her thoughts are far away from her present surroundings; +something sad occupies them. She dreams of the past and perhaps also +of the future. Sorrow as well as work has had a large share in her +life, but she has borne it all with patient resignation. She is not +one to complain, and does not mean to trouble others with her sadness. +But left all alone with her musings, a look of yearning comes into her +eyes as for something beautiful and much loved, lost long ago. + +Some painters have been at great pains to fashion a countenance +sorrowful enough and patient enough to represent the subject of the +Mater Dolorosa, that is, the Sorrowing Mother of Christ. Perhaps they +would have succeeded better if they had turned away from their own +imaginations to some mother in real life, who has loved and worked +and suffered like this one. The face answers in part our first +question. A woman like this is capable of mothering great sons. +Industrious, patient, self-sacrificing, she would spare herself +nothing to train them faithfully. And the life of which her face +speaks--a life of self-denying toil, ennobled by high ideals of +duty--is the stuff of which heroes are made. Some of the great men of +history had such mothers. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN +_Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg_] + +The picture illustrates the fact that a face may be interesting and +even artistic, if not beautiful. This idea may surprise many, for when +one calls a person "as pretty as a picture," it seems to be understood +that it is only pretty people who make suitable models for pictures. +Rembrandt, however, was of quite another mind. He was a student of +character as well as a painter, and he cared to paint faces more for +their expression than for beauty of feature. + +Now the expression of a face is to a great extent the index of +character. We say that the child has "no character in his face," +meaning that his skin is still fair and smooth, before his thoughts +and feelings have made any record there. Gradually the character +impresses itself on his face. Experience acts almost like a sculptor's +chisel, carving lines of care and grooving furrows of sorrow, shaping +the mouth and the setting of the eyes. + +The longer this process continues, the more expressive the face +becomes, so that it is the old whose faces tell the most interesting +stories of life. Rembrandt understood this perfectly, and none ever +succeeded better than he in revealing the poetry and beauty of old +age. + +His way of showing the character in the face of this old woman is very +common with him. The high light of the picture is concentrated on the +face and is continued down upon the snowy kerchief. This forms a +diamond of light shading by gradations into darker tints. It was the +skillful use of light and shadow in the picture, which made a poetic +and artistic work of a subject which another painter might have made +very commonplace. + + + + +XIV + +THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD + + +The word syndic is a name applied to an officer of a corporation, and +this is its meaning in the title of the picture, The Syndics of the +Cloth Guild. In Holland, as in England and France and elsewhere in +Europe, guilds were associations of tradesmen or artisans united for +purposes of mutual help and for the interests of their respective +industries. In some points they were the forerunners of modern trades +unions, except that the members were proprietary merchants and master +craftsmen instead of employees, and their purpose was the advancement +of commercial interests in municipal affairs, instead of the +protection of labor against capital. There were guilds of mercers, +wine merchants, goldsmiths, painters and many others. + +Now the wool industry was one of the most important in Holland, hence +the Guild of Drapers or Cloth Workers was a dignified association in +several cities. There was one in Leyden, where Rembrandt was born, and +another in Amsterdam, where he passed the most of his life. Amsterdam +was at that time the foremost commercial city of Europe. Its guilds +had fine halls, ornamented with works of art painted by the best +contemporary artists. It was for this purpose that Rembrandt received +from the Amsterdam Cloth Guild the commission to paint a portrait +group of their five officers, and he accordingly delivered to them in +1661 the great picture of which we have this little reproduction to +examine. + +Just as in the picture of the Civic Guard he had given life to the +portraits, by showing the members in some action appropriate to their +military character, so here he represents the officers of the guild in +surroundings suggestive of their duties. They are gathered about a +table covered with a rich scarlet cloth, on which rests the great +ledger of the corporation. They are engaged in balancing their +accounts and preparing a report for the year, and a servant awaits +their order in the rear of the apartment. Their task seems a pleasant +one, for whatever difficulties have arisen during their +administration, it is evident that the outcome is successful. They +take a quiet satisfaction in the year's record. + +It is as if in the midst of their consultations, as they turn the +leaves of the ledger, we suddenly open the door into the room. They +are surprised but not disturbed by the intrusion, and look genially +towards the newcomers. The younger man at the end welcomes us with a +smile. Next to him is one who has been leaning over the book. He +raises his head and meets our eyes frankly and cordially. His +companion continues his discourse, gesturing with the right hand. The +older men at one side give more attention to the arrival. One seated +in the armchair smiles good naturedly; the other, rising and +leaning on the table, peers forward with a look of keen inquiry. + +[Illustration: THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD +_Ryks Museum, Amsterdam_] + +As we examine the faces one by one, we could almost write a character +study of each man, so wonderfully does the portrait reveal the inner +life--the placid amiability of one, the quiet humor of another, the +keen, incisive insight of a third. That they are all men of sound +judgment we may well believe, and they are plainly men to be trusted. +The motto of the guild is a key to their character: "Conform to your +vows in all matters clearly within their jurisdiction; live honestly; +be not influenced in your judgments by favor, hatred, or personal +interest." These principles are at the foundation of the commercial +prosperity for which Holland is noted. + +The picture may be taken to illustrate a page in American history. It +was the Dutch, as we all remember, who founded the State of New York, +and the fifty years of their occupation (1614-1664) fell within the +lifetime of Rembrandt. The fifteen thousand settlers, who came during +this time from Holland to America, brought with them the manners and +customs of their home country. The citizens of New Amsterdam were the +counterparts of their contemporaries in the old Amsterdam. We may see, +then, in this picture of the Cloth Merchants of Amsterdam just such +men as were to be seen among our own colonists. In the broad-brimmed +hat and the wide white collar we find the same peculiarities of dress, +and in their honest faces we read the same national traits. It was to +men like these that we owe a debt of gratitude for some of the best +elements in our national life. In the words of a historian,[11] "The +republican Dutchmen gave New York its tolerant and cosmopolitan +character, insured its commercial supremacy, introduced the common +schools, founded the oldest day school and the first Protestant church +in the United States, and were pioneers in most of the ideas and +institutions we boast of as distinctly American." + +[Footnote 11: W. E. Griffis, in _Brave Little Holland_, pp. 212-213.] + +If you fancy that it was quite accidental that the six figures of this +picture are so well arranged, and wonder why the art of Rembrandt +should be so praised here, you may try an experiment with your camera +upon a group of six figures. In posing six persons in any order which +is not stiff, and getting them all to look with one accord and quite +naturally towards a single point, you will understand some of the many +difficulties which Rembrandt overcame so simply. + + + + +XV + +THE THREE TREES + + +Holland, as is well known, is a country built upon marshes, which have +been drained and filled in by the patient industry of many generations +of workers. The land is consequently very low, almost perfectly level, +and is covered by a network of canals. It lacks many of the features +which make up the natural scenery of other countries,--mountains and +ravines, rocks and rivers,--but it is, nevertheless, a very +picturesque country. Artists love it for the quiet beauty of its +landscape. Though this is not grand and awe-inspiring, it is restful +and attractive. + +We may well believe that the artistic nature of Rembrandt was +sensitive to the influences of his native Dutch scenery. Though his +great forte in art lay in other directions, he paused from time to +time to paint or etch a landscape. + +Even in this unaccustomed work he proved himself a master. He treated +the subject much as he did a portrait,--trying to bring out the +character of the scene just as he brought out the character in a face. +How much of a story he could tell in a single picture we see in this +famous etching called The Three Trees. + +One can tell at a glance that this is Holland. We look across a wide +level stretch of land, and the eye travels on and on into an almost +endless distance. Far away we see the windmills of a Dutch town +outlined against the sky,--a sign of industry as important in Holland +as are factory chimneys in some other parts of the world. Beyond this, +another endless level stretch meets the sky at the horizon line. It is +hard to distinguish the land and water, which seem to lie in alternate +strips. The pastures are surrounded by canals as by fences. + +Here and there are cows grazing, and we are reminded of the fine dairy +farms for which Holland is noted, the rich butter and cheese, which +are the product of these vast flat lands, apparently so useless and +unproductive. Directly in front of us, at the left, is a still pool, +and on the farther bank stands a fisherman holding a rod over the +water. A woman seated on the bank watches the process with intense +interest. There are two other figures near by which can hardly be +discerned. + +[Illustration: THE THREE TREES +_Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_] + +The wide outlook of flat country is the setting for the little +tree-crowned hill which rises near us at the right. It would seem a +very small hillock anywhere else, but in these level surroundings it +has a distinct character. It is the one striking feature which gives +expression to the face of the landscape. The eye turns with pleasure +to its grassy slopes and leafy trees. The trees have the symmetrical +grace so characteristic of Dutch vegetation. Nothing is allowed to +grow wild in this country. Every growing thing is carefully nurtured +and trained. We see that the distances between these trees were +carefully spaced in the planting, so that each one might develop +independently and perfectly without injury to the others. The branches +grow from their straight trunks at the same height, and they are +plainly of the same age. Their outer branches interlace in brotherly +companionship to make a solid leafy arbor, beneath which the wayfarer +may find a shady retreat. On the summit of the hill, outlined against +the sky, is a hay wagon followed by a man with a rake. At a distance, +also clearly seen against the sky, on the ridge of the hill, sits a +man, alone and idle. + +The sky is a wonderful part of the picture. Rembrandt, it appears, +almost never ventured to represent the clouds. He had the true +artist's reverence for subjects which were beyond his skill, and +preferred to leave untouched what he could not do well. Now in this +case, lacking the experience to draw a sky as finished in workmanship +as his landscape, he _suggested_ in a few lines the effect which he +wished to produce. At the left a few diagonal strokes show a smart +shower just at hand. A whirl of dark-colored clouds comes next, and in +the upper air beyond, a stratum of clouds is indicated by a mass of +lines crossing and recrossing in long swirling curves. + +With these few lines Rembrandt conveys perfectly the idea that a storm +is approaching. The clouds seem to be in motion, scurrying across the +sky in advance of the rain. One imaginative critic has thought that +he could discern in the cloud-whirl a dim phantom figure as of the +spirit of the on-coming storm. Like the clouds we often see in nature, +it takes some new fantastic shape every time we look at it. Altogether +the impression we receive is that of vivid reality. The artist's few +lines have produced with perfect success an effect, which might have +been entirely spoiled had he tried to finish it carefully. + +We look once more at the landscape to see what influence the coming +storm has upon it. The fisherman pays no heed. The clouding of the sky +only makes the fish bite better, and absorbed in his sport he cares +nothing for weather. The haymaker on the hilltop has a better chance +to read the face of the sky, and starts up his wagon. The three trees +seem to feel the impending danger. Their leafage is already darkening +in the changed light, and they toss their branches in the wind, as if +to wrestle with the spirit of the storm. + + + + +XVI + +THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT + + +In studying the fifteen pictures of this collection, we have seen +something of the work of the great Dutch master, Rembrandt, and have +learned a little of the man himself, of his love for the sweet wife, +Saskia, of his friendship with the cultured burgomaster, Jan Six, of +his faithful and reverent study of the Bible, of his rare insight into +people's character. We are ready now to look directly into the +artist's own face, in a portrait by his own hand. + +There are a great many portraits of Rembrandt etched and painted by +himself. We have noticed how fond he was of painting the same model +many times, in order to make a thorough study of the face, in varying +moods and expressions. Now there was one sitter who was always at +hand, and ready to do his bidding. He had only to take a position in +front of a mirror, and there was this model willing to pose in any +position and with any expression he desired. So obliging a sitter +could nowhere else be found; and thus it is that there is such a large +collection of his self-made portraits. + +His habit of painting his own portrait gave him an opportunity to +study all sorts of costume effects. His patrons were plain, slow-going +Dutchmen who did not want any "fancy" effects in their portraits. +They wished first of all a faithful likeness in such clothing as they +ordinarily wore. It was chiefly in his own portraits that Rembrandt +had the satisfaction of painting the rich and fanciful costumes he +loved so well. He wore in turn all sorts of hats and caps, many jewels +and ornaments, and every variety of mantle, doublet, and cuirass. In +this he was somewhat like an actor taking the parts of many different +characters. Sometimes he is an officer with mustaches fiercely +twisted, carrying his head with a dashing military air. Again he is a +cavalier wearing his velvet mantle, and plumed hat, with the languid +elegance of a gentleman of leisure. Sometimes he seems a mere country +boor, a rough, unkempt fellow, with coarse features and a heavy +expression. + +As we see him acting so many roles, we may well wonder what the +character of the man really was. As a matter of fact, he was full of +singular contradictions. In his personal habits he was frugal and +temperate to the last degree, preferring the simplest fare, and +contenting himself with a lunch of herring and cheese when occupied +with his work. On the other hand, his artistic tastes led him into +reckless extravagance. He thought no price too great to pay for a +choice painting, or rare print, upon which he had set his heart. He +was generous to a fault, fond of his friends, yet living much alone. + +In the portrait we have chosen for our frontispiece, we like to +believe that we see Rembrandt, the man himself. He wears one of his +rich studio costumes, but the face which he turns to ours is quite +free from any affectation; a spirit of sincerity looks out of his +kindly eyes. The portrait is signed and dated 1640, so that the man is +between thirty and thirty-five years of age. This was the happiest +period of Rembrandt's life, while his wife Saskia was still living to +brighten his home. + +We see his contentment in his face. He has large mobile features, +which have here settled into an expression of genial repose. He has +the dignified bearing of one whose professional success entitles him +to a just sense of self-satisfaction, but he is not posing as a great +man. He is still a simple-hearted miller's son, a man whom we should +like to meet in his own family circle, with his little ones playing +about him. He is a man to whom children might run, sure of a friendly +welcome; he is a man whom strangers might trust, sure of his +sincerity. It is, in short, Rembrandt, with all the kindliest human +qualities uppermost, which show us, behind the artist, the man +himself. + + * * * * * + + + + +PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS + +The Diacritical Marks given are those found in the latest edition of +Webster's International Dictionary. + +EXPLANATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS. + + +A Dash ([=]) above the vowel denotes the long sound, as in f[=a]te, + [=e]ve, t[=i]me, n[=o]te, [=u]se. + +A Dash and a Dot ([.=]) above the vowel denote the same sound, less + prolonged. + +A Curve ([)]) above the vowel denotes the short sound, as in [)a]d + [)e]nd, [)i]ll, [)o]dd, [)u]p. + +A Dot ([.]) above the vowel a denotes the obscure sound of a in p[.a]st, + [.a]b[=a]te, Am[)e]ric[.a]. + +A Double Dot ([:]) above the vowel a denotes the broad sound of a in + faether, aelms. + +A Double Dot ([:]) below the vowel a denotes the sound of a in b[a:]ll. + +A Wave ([~]) above the vowel e denotes the sound of e in h[~e]r. + +A Circumflex Accent ([^]) above the vowel o denotes the sound of o in born. + +e sounds like e in d[.=e]p[)e]nd. + +o sounds like o in pr[.=o]p[=o]se. + +c sounds like s. + +[-c] sounds like k. + +[s=] sounds like Z. + +[=g] is hard as in [=g]et. + +[.g] is soft as in [.g]em. + + +Amsterdam ([)A]m'st[~e]rd[)a]m). + +Apocrypha ([.a] p[)o]k'r[)i] f[.a]). + +Aramaic ([)A]r[.a]m[=a]'[)i][-c]). + +Asenath ([=A]s[=e]'n[)a]th). + +Assyria ([)A]ss[)y]r'[)i][.a]). + +Azarias ([)A]z[.a]r[=i]'[)a]s). + + +Bathsheba (B[)a]thsh[=e]'b[.a]). + +Bethlehem (B[)e]th'l[=e]h[)e]m). + +Bildt (b[=e]lt). + +Braun (brown). + +Breestraat (br[=a]'straet). + +burgher (b[~e]r'g[~e]r). + + +Capernaum ([-C][=a]p[~e]r'n[=a][)u]m). + +Cassel (kaes's[)e]l). + +chiaroscuro (kyae r[.=o] sk[=oo]'r[.=o]). + +Cleopas ([-C]l[=e]'[=o]p[)a]s). + +Cocq (k[=k]). + +Coppenol (k[)o]p'p[.=e] n[)o]). + +Creusa ([-C]r[=e][=u]'s[.a]). + +cuirass (kw[=e] raes'). + +cymar (s[=i] maer'). + + +doelen (d[=oo]'l[)e]n). + + +Ecbatane ([)e]k b[)a]t'[.a] n[)u]). + +Elsbroek ([)e]ls'br[=oo]k). + +Emmaus (Emm[=a]'[)u]s) or ([)e]m'm[=a] [)u]s). + +Enemessar (En[=e]m[)e]s's[)a]r). + +Ephraim (E'phr[=a][)i]m). + +etzn ([)e]t'z[)n]). + + +Friesland (fr[=e]z'l[.a]nd). + +Fromentin (fr[.=o] m[)o]N t[))a]N'). + + +Gabael (G[)a]b'[.=a][)e]l) or (g[.=a]'b[.=a] [)e]l). + +Galileo (G[)a]l[)i]l[=e]'[.=o]). + +Gennesaret ([.G][)e]nn[)e]s'[.a]r[)e]t). + +Goethe ([=g][~e]'t[)u]). + + +Hague (h[=a]g). + +Hamelin (hae'm[)e] l[)i]n). + +Hanfstaengl, Franz (haenf'st[=a]ngl fraents). + +Hatto (h[)a]t'[.=o]). + +Hillegom (h[)i]l'l[.=e] g[)o]m). + + +Israel (I[.=s]'r[=a][)e]l). + + +Jason (J[=a]'s[)o]n). + +Jericho (J[)e]r'[)i][-c]h[=o]). + +Joden (y[=o]'d[)e]n). + + +Lastman, Pieter (laest'maen p[=e]'t[~e]r). + +Leyden (l[=i]'d[)e]n). + +Louvre (l[=oo]'vr). + + +Manasseh (m[.a] n[)a]s's[)u]). + +Manoah (M[.=a]n[=o]'[.a]h). + +Mater Dolorosa (m[=a]'t[~e]r d[)o]l [.=o] r[=o]'s[.a]). + +Medaea (m[.=e] d[=e]'[.a]). + +Media (m[=e]'d[)i] [.a]). + +Michel (m[.=e] sh[)e]l'). + +Muiderberg (moi'd[e(]r b[)e]rg). + + +Nazareth (N[)a]z'[.a]r[)e]th). + +Nineveh (n[)i]n'[.=e] v[)u]). + + +Odalisque ([=o]'d[.a] l[)i]sk). + + +Padanaram (P[=a]d[.a]n[=a]'r[.a]m). + +Palestine (P[)a]l'[)e]st[=i]ne). + +Peniel (P[.=e]n[=i]'[.=e]l). + +Penuel (P[.=e]n[=u]'[)e]l). + +Purmerland (P[)u]r'm[~e]rl[)a]nd). + + +Rages (R[=a]'g[=e]s). + +Raguel (R[.=a]g[=u]'[)e]l) or (r[)a]g'[=u] [)e]l). + +Raphael (rae'f[=a] [)e]l). + +Rembrandt (r[)e]m'br[)a]nt). + +Ruytenberg, Willem van (roi't[e(]n b[)e]rg w[)i]l'l[)e]m vaen). + +Ryks (R[=y]ks). + + +Saskia (saes'k[.=e] [.a]). + +Sennacherib (S[)e]nn[)a]ch'[.=e]r[)i]b). + +Simeon (S[)i]m'[.=e][)o]n). + +Six, Jan (s[=e]x yaen). + +Stuttgart (st[)oo]t'gaert). + +Sylvius, Jan Cornelis (s[)i]l'v[.=e] [)oo]s yaen k[.=o]r n[=e]'l[)i]s). + +Syndic (S[)y]n'd[)i][-c]). + +Swanenburch (swae'n[)e]n b[)oo]rK). + + +Tigris (T[=i]'gr[)i]s). + +Tobias (T[.=o]b[=i]'[)a]s). + +Tobit (T[=o]'b[)i]t). + +Trippenhuis (tr[)i]p'p[)e]n hois). + + +Uylenborch, Rombertus van (oi'l[)e]n b[.=o]rK r[)o]m b[)e]r't[)oo]s vaen). + + +Vlaerdingen (vlaer'd[)i]ng [)e]n). + +Vondel (v[)o]n'd[)e]l). + + +Wijmer (w[=i]'m[~e]r). + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rembrandt, by Estelle M. 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