The world has never produced a more original artist limn Rembrandt. In theory and in ijraetiee he was llie j;reat antipmle of what was considered the standard art of his day—the Italian. He knew no model, except nature. His conception of nature was essentially poetic and picturesque, but at the same time virile. The most promini-nt technical characteristic of his work is a marvelous rendition of lij;ht, through which he emphasized the important part, leaving the rest in luminous shadows. At first he painted in full liglit. but after l()3;i he preferred the inclosed light of the studio. Everything appears in subtle harmonies of gold and brown. His early pictures are painted with detailed execution and light colov; but he increasingly uses a broader brush and ridier color, and later in life his painting becomes highly impasto, almost decorative in character. He exercised great influence upon the art of his day, and a more lasting one ui)on the art of the nineteenth century. Among his many pupils were Gerard Dou, Govaert Flinck, and Ferdinand Bol.
Rembrandt was preeminent in portraiture, and no artist has succeeded better in rendering the head in a realistic, chaiacteristic, and at the same time in a pictures(]ue manner. Among his numerous portraits, perhaps the most interesting are those of himself and of liis wife, Saskia. A charming picture is that of the young couple in an atVectionate position at breakfast. The best known examples of Rembrandt's portraits are those of 1033, 1034, and 1637 in the Louvre; of 1635 in the Liechtenstein Gallery, Vienna, and in the National Gallery, London: of 1041 in Buckingham Palace. In later life he painted those in Munich ( 16,58), National Gallery (London), and several in Knglish private possession. The best known portraits of Saskia are at Dresden and Cassell; of Hendrickje Stoft'els at Berlin; of his mother in Windsor Castle; of his son Titus and of his sister in the Imperial and Liechtenstein galleries, Vienna. Among other famous portraits are: a "Money Changer" (1627, Berlin); the "Polish Nobleinan" (1631, Saint Petersburg); the poet Krul (1633, Cassel): the '"Mennonite Preacher Aanslow Consoling a Woman" (Berlin Museum); the so-called "Frame-Maker" (Haveniejer Collection, New York, 1640); "Burgomaster Pancras and His Wife" (164.5, Buckingham Palace); "Jan Six" (1654, Amsterdam); the "Ship Architect and His Wife" (in possession of the King of England); the so-called "Jewish Bride" (Amsterdam); and the "Architect" (1656. Cassel). Of his "Rabbis" a fine example is in Buckingham Palace; of his numerous "Old Women," the best known are in London and Saint Petersburg. Examples of his work may be seen in this country in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Rembrandt's most ambitious efforts in portraiture were groups similar in character to those of Hals. The masterpiece of his earlier fulllight treatment is the well-known "Anatomical Lecture" (1632, The Hague). It represents the anatomist Nicholas Tulp, who ordered the picture, making a post-mortem examination before a group of his associates. The heads are wonderfully expressive, and the dead body is treated in a manner at once realistic and delicate. On a still larger scale is his masterpiece of the second period, painted for the Town Hall and now in the Amsterdam Mu.seum. . The fine treatment of chiaroscuro created the erroneous opinion that it represented a "Night Watch," by which title it is generally known, but it is, in reality, a portion of the civic guard issuing forth in broad daylight. His third chief work of this character is "De Stallmeesters" (1662). a representation of the presidents of the clothiers' gv.ild. in the same nuiseum—simple and harmonious in treatment, and showing the more sombre coloring of his last period.
Like the Italians of the fifteenth century. Rembrandt depicte<l religious subjects in ap|)arel of the day. and chose especially the inhabitants of the Ghetto in their (ficturesque Oriental costumes. They are characterized by high diamatic power, and by deep religious feeling, of that homely and efl'ectivc kind ty])ical of the Dutch Calvinistic Church. Among the principal examples are the "Presentation of Clirist in the Temple" (1031, The Hague); the "Descent from the Cross" (1633. Munich): "Samson Threatening His Step-Father" (103.5. Berlin); the "Angel Leaving Tobias" ( 1637. Louvre); "Samson's Wedding" (1638, Dresden); the "Sacrifice of Manoah" (1641, ib.); "Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau" (1642. Louvre): "The Disciples of Emmaus" (1048, Louvre); "Jacob Blessing His Grandsons" (1656, Cassel); and "Return of the Prodigal Son" (Saint Petersburg). His mytiiological pictures make no endeavor to attain classic form or beauty, but strive for pure pictorial effects. Some of them, like the "Rape of Ganymede" ( Dresden ), even seem to burlesque the subjects. More serious examples are "Diana and Endymion" (Liechtenstein Gallery, Vienna); the "Rape of Proserpina" (Berlin); and "Danae"( Saint Petersburg). The dozen landscapes which Rembrandt painted display the same poetic feeling and technical skill as his figure subjects. With empluisis of the essentials he has portrayed the beavity of the flat country about Amsterdam. The best known example is "The Mill," in possession of Lord Lansdowne (London); other examples are at Brunswick, Cassel, Dublin, etc.
Rembrandt was probably the most consummate etcher of all times, and held his rank on purely technical as well as artistic grounds. His etchings possess the harmony, tone, and ])oetry of his pictures, and whether sketchy or highly finished they are always masterpieces. Among his best known prints are the "Descent from the Cross" (1037); "Christ Healing the Sick;" "Christ Preaching;" "Burgoraa.ster Jan Six;" and the well-known "Landscape with Three Trees." Examples of his prints, as well as of his admirable drawings, may be found in the Louvre, Albertina (Vienna), and British iluseum. in the museums of Berlin. Dresden. Munich, Holland, and in several private collections.
Bibliography. Consult the biographies by Scheltema (Amsterdam, 1853); Vosmaer (Paris. 1877), the standard authority; Lemcke, in Dohme: Eutist und Kiinstler (Leipzig. 1877); Graul (ib., 1892); Michel (Paris. 1893); Knackfuss (Bielefeld, 1899); Malcolm Bell (London, 1899); Neumann (Stuttgart. 1900). For his etchings consult: Blanc (Paris. 1880); Seidlitz (Leipzig. 1896): and especially the reproductions of Rovinsky (Saint Petersburg, 1890 et seq.); for his drawings. Pippmann. Bode et al. (Berlin and London. 1888-90. 1902): and for reproductions of all his works. Bode (8 vols., Paris, 1897).
