DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62913#0046
xxxviii
THE LIFE OF
but, charmed with the higher qualities of the picture,
will treat with indifference such superficial defects.
In the foregoing observations, the Writer has endea-
voured to give some idea of the characteristics and
qualities of the pictorial productions of Rembrandt,
and to place him by comparison in that rank to
which his splendid genius fully entitles him : but there
is yet another department of art which he carried to
such perfection that, as it admits of no comparison
with any other, he stands alone, unequalled and
unrivalled; — namely, his wonderful productions in
eau forte. His taste for etching appears to have
been almost coeval with the use of the palette, and
his fondness for it as an amusement, must have
occupied a large portion of his leisure hours. Not
a year past after his commencement as a painter,
without one or more beautiful productions emanating
from his burin, until he had sent forth to the world
about three hundred and sixty-five prints. In this
pursuit he appears to have been singularly careful to
throw off a few impressions in the various states of
his plate, and in numerous instances, after making
the most trifling alterations ; this propensity he car-
ried so far, that, in a few instances, he has touched on
finished works, so as to destroy in some measure the
beauty they previously possessed. These trials and
alterations in his plates could not always have been
done for the purpose of essaying their state, he must
have had some ulterior object in view, and this could
have been nothing else than to promote an increased
sale of impressions in die various states of his plates.
THE LIFE OF
but, charmed with the higher qualities of the picture,
will treat with indifference such superficial defects.
In the foregoing observations, the Writer has endea-
voured to give some idea of the characteristics and
qualities of the pictorial productions of Rembrandt,
and to place him by comparison in that rank to
which his splendid genius fully entitles him : but there
is yet another department of art which he carried to
such perfection that, as it admits of no comparison
with any other, he stands alone, unequalled and
unrivalled; — namely, his wonderful productions in
eau forte. His taste for etching appears to have
been almost coeval with the use of the palette, and
his fondness for it as an amusement, must have
occupied a large portion of his leisure hours. Not
a year past after his commencement as a painter,
without one or more beautiful productions emanating
from his burin, until he had sent forth to the world
about three hundred and sixty-five prints. In this
pursuit he appears to have been singularly careful to
throw off a few impressions in the various states of
his plate, and in numerous instances, after making
the most trifling alterations ; this propensity he car-
ried so far, that, in a few instances, he has touched on
finished works, so as to destroy in some measure the
beauty they previously possessed. These trials and
alterations in his plates could not always have been
done for the purpose of essaying their state, he must
have had some ulterior object in view, and this could
have been nothing else than to promote an increased
sale of impressions in die various states of his plates.