DOI chapter:
Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers, and their Works
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61295#0510
488
REMBRANDT.
standingly for himself. He wished only to represent what he saw;
and of what he saw it was ever the most striking and unusual feature
which seemed to remain with him. We are too apt to say of an
unusual thing that it is not natural; but if we were more acute in
our observations, we should soon find that nothing can be too strange
to be natural, and especially when, as in the case of Rembrandt, the
great effects are those of light and shade. Have we not all seen a
landscape on a dull day, with no sun and no shadow, that seemed tame
and featureless ? And have we not seen the same place again when
the sun threw out that clump of trees, and shimmered on that brook
until it was rippling silver, and left all else dark and cold, — so cold
and so dark that the great rock is blacker than black, and the grass
beyond the sunshine brown in place of green, —■ and we wonder why
we did not see that there was character and “ points ” here before ?
Now, this is just what Rembrandt did. He put such effects of light
and shade as he had seen, and nothing else. He gave in every work
“ points ” to fix our eye, and though all else was finished with ex-
quisite skill, and would bear examination just as the flowers and
grass in the shade of our real landscape would do if we went to them,
still we do not care to search them out. The one great interest
holds us and is enough. His technical powers were marvellous;
his freedom, spirit, and breadth of manner had no example before
him. In spite of all these advantages, he painted ugly and even
vulgar heads; he disregarded all rules of art in costume and acces-
sories ; he parodied ideal and mythological subjects, and painted the
coarse and common men about him to represent the personages of
Scripture story ; but with all there is a simplicity, truthfulness, and
earnestness that holds and satisfies us. At different periods he used
different lighting and handlino-; e. before 1633 he used such clear
daylight as is seen in the “ Anatomical Lecture,” now at the Hague;
the flesh tints are warm and clear, and there is a certain fusion in
spite of the free and careful touch. Ever after this period he pre-
ferred the light of which we have spoken, enclosed light, so to
speak; that which leaves great masses in shadow, and breaks over
certain objects; his touch, too, became very spirited and more dis-
tinct; his flesh tones were more golden, and therefore less natural.
It was in 1656 that his money matters became so involved that his
house and his precious collection were sold. We can imagine the
grief this must have been to him, and yet his works do not show it.
The large picture of “ Jacob blessing the Sons of Joseph,” in the
Cassel Gall., was painted in this year. The etchings are no less
wonderful than the paintings of this great master. He has been
called the “ Prince of Etchers.” He did not use the etching needle
alone, but the dry point also, and sometimes finished with the graver.
He established a new school of engraving, and by his own genius
alone invented a process of which the charm is indescribable. His
REMBRANDT.
standingly for himself. He wished only to represent what he saw;
and of what he saw it was ever the most striking and unusual feature
which seemed to remain with him. We are too apt to say of an
unusual thing that it is not natural; but if we were more acute in
our observations, we should soon find that nothing can be too strange
to be natural, and especially when, as in the case of Rembrandt, the
great effects are those of light and shade. Have we not all seen a
landscape on a dull day, with no sun and no shadow, that seemed tame
and featureless ? And have we not seen the same place again when
the sun threw out that clump of trees, and shimmered on that brook
until it was rippling silver, and left all else dark and cold, — so cold
and so dark that the great rock is blacker than black, and the grass
beyond the sunshine brown in place of green, —■ and we wonder why
we did not see that there was character and “ points ” here before ?
Now, this is just what Rembrandt did. He put such effects of light
and shade as he had seen, and nothing else. He gave in every work
“ points ” to fix our eye, and though all else was finished with ex-
quisite skill, and would bear examination just as the flowers and
grass in the shade of our real landscape would do if we went to them,
still we do not care to search them out. The one great interest
holds us and is enough. His technical powers were marvellous;
his freedom, spirit, and breadth of manner had no example before
him. In spite of all these advantages, he painted ugly and even
vulgar heads; he disregarded all rules of art in costume and acces-
sories ; he parodied ideal and mythological subjects, and painted the
coarse and common men about him to represent the personages of
Scripture story ; but with all there is a simplicity, truthfulness, and
earnestness that holds and satisfies us. At different periods he used
different lighting and handlino-; e. before 1633 he used such clear
daylight as is seen in the “ Anatomical Lecture,” now at the Hague;
the flesh tints are warm and clear, and there is a certain fusion in
spite of the free and careful touch. Ever after this period he pre-
ferred the light of which we have spoken, enclosed light, so to
speak; that which leaves great masses in shadow, and breaks over
certain objects; his touch, too, became very spirited and more dis-
tinct; his flesh tones were more golden, and therefore less natural.
It was in 1656 that his money matters became so involved that his
house and his precious collection were sold. We can imagine the
grief this must have been to him, and yet his works do not show it.
The large picture of “ Jacob blessing the Sons of Joseph,” in the
Cassel Gall., was painted in this year. The etchings are no less
wonderful than the paintings of this great master. He has been
called the “ Prince of Etchers.” He did not use the etching needle
alone, but the dry point also, and sometimes finished with the graver.
He established a new school of engraving, and by his own genius
alone invented a process of which the charm is indescribable. His