DOI Heft:
Nr. 213 (December 1910)
DOI Artikel:Lees, Frederic: On a collection of drawings by Rembrandt and the old masters
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20971#0235
Drawings by Rembrandt
to forget the privilege. There are sketches there
by Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, del Sarto, Tin-
toretto, Titian, Ghirlandajo, Signorelli, Mantegna,
Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Diirer,
Van Ostade, Ruysdael, Cuyp, Potter, Leu, Watteau,
Boucher, Ingres and many others. Some of them,
as the marks in the corners show, have already
figured in celebrated English and French collec-
tions, as those of the Duke of Buccleuch, Sir Joshua
Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence, William Esdalle,
Nathaniel Hone, Valori, Goldschmidt, Utterson,
Denon, Ravaison Mollien, etc.; others, and not
the least interesting, are M. Wauters’ own dis-
coveries.
How could one hope to give within the neces-
sarily brief limits of a magazine article, an ade-
quate description of these series of Rembrandts,
Raphaels, Van Dycks, Van Ostades and all the
others? Only in a volume could one hope to do
them justice. We shall be wise, therefore, in con-
centrating our attention on the drawings of the
first named master, who is so well represented as
to make it possible, if not to read in them the
entire span of his life, from 1606 to 1669, at any
rate to visualise certain sides of it. The fact that
some of the greatest of our modern painters, in-
cluding Reynolds, Lawrence and Landseer, were
enthusiastic collectors or admirers of Rembrandt’s
drawings should act as an incentive to others to
search for the little known sides of his character
and the secret of his art.
This task is easier, perhaps, than at first sight
appears, for, as has been well said by one of his
biographers, though “ others have shown more ex-
actitude, more taste, more grace or beauty in their
draughtsmanship, no master has expressed his
ideas with greater dearness and strength.” Indeed,
though it is difficult, one might even say impos-
sible, to establish the exact chronology of his
drawings, since he rarely dated them, there are few
old masters whose sketches are so revelatory as
his, and consequently few whose preparatory works
“jacob at Isaac’s bedside
2 14
BY REMBRANDT
to forget the privilege. There are sketches there
by Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, del Sarto, Tin-
toretto, Titian, Ghirlandajo, Signorelli, Mantegna,
Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Diirer,
Van Ostade, Ruysdael, Cuyp, Potter, Leu, Watteau,
Boucher, Ingres and many others. Some of them,
as the marks in the corners show, have already
figured in celebrated English and French collec-
tions, as those of the Duke of Buccleuch, Sir Joshua
Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence, William Esdalle,
Nathaniel Hone, Valori, Goldschmidt, Utterson,
Denon, Ravaison Mollien, etc.; others, and not
the least interesting, are M. Wauters’ own dis-
coveries.
How could one hope to give within the neces-
sarily brief limits of a magazine article, an ade-
quate description of these series of Rembrandts,
Raphaels, Van Dycks, Van Ostades and all the
others? Only in a volume could one hope to do
them justice. We shall be wise, therefore, in con-
centrating our attention on the drawings of the
first named master, who is so well represented as
to make it possible, if not to read in them the
entire span of his life, from 1606 to 1669, at any
rate to visualise certain sides of it. The fact that
some of the greatest of our modern painters, in-
cluding Reynolds, Lawrence and Landseer, were
enthusiastic collectors or admirers of Rembrandt’s
drawings should act as an incentive to others to
search for the little known sides of his character
and the secret of his art.
This task is easier, perhaps, than at first sight
appears, for, as has been well said by one of his
biographers, though “ others have shown more ex-
actitude, more taste, more grace or beauty in their
draughtsmanship, no master has expressed his
ideas with greater dearness and strength.” Indeed,
though it is difficult, one might even say impos-
sible, to establish the exact chronology of his
drawings, since he rarely dated them, there are few
old masters whose sketches are so revelatory as
his, and consequently few whose preparatory works
“jacob at Isaac’s bedside
2 14
BY REMBRANDT