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THE

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MONOGRAPHS bN ARTISTIC SUBJECTS
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
PUBLISHED MONTHLY

No. I
January, 1894
Rembrandt's Etchings

P.fG.HJUERrON

London: SEELEY AJ>]D CO., LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND
- ¦' ' : -y.- . .-r ',. * '¦ Soldb) ' _ ,„ -• ;^- ;
Hatchard; 187 Piccadilly ' . ;,
Parish LirrairIe GaligMani, 224 Rue de. Rivoh. Berlin : A. Asher & Co., 13 Unter den Linden
New York : Macmillan & Co.
Price Half-a-Crawn

THE ETCHINGS OF
REMBRANDT

By

P. G. HAMERTON
Author of " Etching & Etchers "
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers

LONDON
SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND
NEW YORK, MACMILLAN AND CO
1894

THE DATE OF REMBRANDT'S BIRTH
The date 1607 is according to Vosmaer. Other writers have
given 1606, and this has been accepted by Mr. Haden and M.
Michel. I had not space to enter into the controversy, and
merely trusted the Dutch biographer.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES ETCHED IN FACSIMILE BT AMAND DURAND.
PAGE
Rembrandt with Broad Hat and Embroidered Mantle. B. 7. M. 52 Frontispiece.
The Rat Killer. B. 121. M. 261  20
Johannes Lutma. B. 276. M. 171  56
Rembrandt's Mother, seated, looking to the Right. B. 343. M. 54  80

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

Rembrandt, Full Face, Laughing. B. 316. M. 25
Rembrandt with an Air of Grimace. B. 10. M. 23
Rembrandt with Haggard Eyes. B. 320. M. 24 .

164.

35

nTwo Beggars, a Man and a Woman Conversing. B
A View of Amsterdam. B. 210. M. 304 ...
An Old Woman, etched no lower than the Chin. B
Three Heads of Women. B. 367. M. 115
A Young Woman reading. B. 345. M. 109
The IVfountebank. B. 129. M. 117 . . .
The Prodigal Son. B. 91. M. 201 . . .
The Angel ascending from Tobit and his Family. B
^The Resurrection of Lazarus, A Small Print. B. 72
^"he Three Trees. B. 212. M. 309 
Six's Bridge. B. 208. M. 313 
Landscape with a Canal and Large Boat. B. 236. M. 32

M. 37
M. 10

M. 213
215 .

PACE 161616
17
18
2123242526343638
4044

Ii 2

4 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
PACE
Tobit Blind, with the Dog. B. 42. M. 226  +5
Jesus disputing with the Doctors the Larger Plate. B. 65. M. 231 . ... 4
David on his Knees. B. 41. M. 232   4"'
The Descent from the Cross a Night Piece. B. 83. M. 242  49
The Flight into Egypt : the Holy Family crossing a Rill. B. 55. M. 240 ... 51
Jesus and His Parents returning from Jerusalem. B. 60. M. 244  52
Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus. B. 87. M. 237  53
Abraham's Sacrifice. B. 35. M. 24.6  54
An Old Man with a Short Straight Beard. B. 306. M. 120  59
A Sheet of Sketches, afterwards divided into Five. B. 366. M. 83  62
Three Peasants Travelling. B. 131. M. 153  64
Profile of a Bald Man with a Jewelled Chain. B. 292. M. 39  65
An Old Woman Sleeping. B. 350. M. 116  66
A Battle Piece. B. 117. M. 275  67
Christ's Body carried to the Tomb. B. 84. M. 217  69
A Village with a River and a Sailing Vessel. B. 228. M. 314  73
Sketch of a Dog. B. 371. M. 266  74
Rembrandt with Moustache and Small Beard. B. 2. M. 106  79
A Jew with a High Cap. B. 133. M. 140  _ 81
^A Sketch for the Hundred Guilder Print  82
Landscape with a Fisherman in a Boat. B. 243. M. 19  8q

THE
ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
PART I
THE PLATES CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO THE
ARTIST'S BIOGRAPI-ir I
This little treatise is intended to be an introduction to the study of
the etched work of Rembrandt. The notice of him in Etching and
Etchers was of necessity no more than a short account of what he had
done, with a special mention of a izw representative plates ; the cata
logues of Bartsch, Claussin, Wilson, Charles Blanc, Middleton, and Dutuit,
are too voluminous and important to be convenient as handbooks,
besides being too mechanical in arrangement for consecutive reading.
A memorable exhibition of Rembrandt's etchings was held at the
Burlington Fine Arts Club in the year 1877, and the catalogue of it
is well known, for two special reasons, to all serious students of
Rembrandt, both in England and on the Continent. The first of these
reasons is the adoption, at that time unprecedented, of the chronological
order in preference to the old classification by subj'ect, and the second is
the Introduction by Mr. Seymour Haden, in which he expressed his
disbelief in the authenticity of certain famous plates that had been ad
mitted into all previous catalogues. Mr. Haden's argument is of such
importance that no subsequent writer can afford to pass it in silence,
but it is fully intelligible, in all its bearings, only by advanced students.
Besides this, the catalogue in which it appeared was privately printed for
the Club, and is not generally accessible. The same objection, so far as
ordinary English readers are concerned, applies even to some of the

6 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
published contributions to Rembrandt literature, which are costly, and
printed in foreign languages. For example, the French catalogue by
Dutuit, with heliographic reproductions by Charreyre, is sold at six
hundred francs. It has therefore seemed to us that there was room for a
handbook to the etchings of Rembrandt, published at a low price, and
containing a synoptic account arranged in a readable form, and in such
a manner that any one who perused it might find himself, with little
effort, so far acquainted with the subject that no part of Rembrandt's
great performance as an etcher would seem absolutely strange to him.
The systematic study of the works of a great etcher is seldom
undertaken by lovers of art who are not led to it by the requirements of
a critic or a collector, and yet this systematic study, though it may seem
tedious to the amateur, and pedantic to the artist, and though it may
be regarded with the most complete indifference by the public generally,
has its own rewards to offer in the additional clearness which it imparts
to the whole subject, and in the enhanced interest that every separate
etching gains from being known in connection with the rest. This
kind of study would be impossible for us without the help of the
minutely detailed information that the zealous industry of catalogue-
makers has accumulated for our use. We are, indeed, infinitely their
debtors, for without their labours of love, extending, in some cases, over
many years, and rewarded only by the appreciation of the few who know
all that such toil involves, the student could never gain a comprehensive
view of the total production of a great artist. Even if he had access
to a complete collection, it would be impossible for him to know that it
was complete.
I have just alluded to two methods in the arrangement of a catalogue,
the chronological order and classification by subject. Even in a brief
treatise like the present some definite system is necessary, and I have
decided to adopt three systems, each for one part of my essay, which will
keep them as distinct from each other as possible, both for the reader's
convenience and my own. The first is chronological so as to connect the
etchings, or many of them, with the inspiring and affecting story of
Rembrandt's courageous and troubled existence. One of the great
artist's biographers, M. Emile Michel, says that Rembrandt has himself
almost invariably enlightened us as to the date of his works, but this

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 7
vvith regard at least to the etchings, is certainly saying too much and
therefore it is impossible for me to follow the chronological method
exclusively. M. Dutuit, on the other hand, observes that nearly two-
thirds of Rembrandt's etchings are without date. This statement is,
however, a very great exaggeration of their still too frequent datelessness.
Mr. Middleton, in his catalogue, admits three hundred and twenty-nine
plates as genuine. Out of these, one hundred and eighty-one are dated,
so that the dated plates are in the majority and sufficiently abundant
to afford in themselves all that is needed for reference in the first,
or biographical, portion of this essay, especially considering that
the author, having a limited space at his command, is not under
any obligation to refer to everything that Rembrandt executed.
Those who try to make complete chronological catalogues are sorely
tempted to assign dates that must in many instances be purely, if
not wildly, conjectural. Each instance would require to be supported
by a separate argument which is seldom given, so that the reader sees that
the date is assumed but does not often know why it is assumed. The
compiler has, no doubt, gone through a process of reasoning that
is satisfactory to himself and might be so to his readers if their faith
were not disturbed by other equally authorised compilers. Our teachers
do, indeed, arrive at the most divergent and contradictory conclusions.
The differences between Vosmaer and Middleton are extremely frequent,
and in several instances so wide that it would seem as if there were
nothing in the changing manner of Rembrandt's workmanship, or in
his tastes and interests so far as the choice of subject is concerned, to
justify one in fixing a date within a year or two, or even a decade.
For example there is the well-known plate of The Triumph of Mordecai
to which Vosmaer assigns 1640 or from that to 1645, whereas
Middleton fixes 1651. The Adoration of the Shepherds was etched,
according to Vosmaer, between 1632 and 1640, according to
Middleton in 1652. The Star of the Kings is dated by Vosmaer
1 64 1, but Middleton puts it twelve years later. When we are assured
by the Dutch authority that the date of The Blind Man seen from
behind is 1651 the English connoisseur throws us back no less than
twenty-one years, a little more than one-third of Rembrandt's whole
existence. There is, however, one page in Vosmaer's great work which

8 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
deserves our unqualified approval. It is that in which he gives a list
of twenty-one plates for which he declines to fix any date whatever.
Writers for whom the fixing of dates is an absolutely over-mastering
passion may always safely assume that an etching by Rembrandt was
produced between 1607, when the artist came into the world, and
1669, when he went out of it. No other plan is absolutely safe.
It might seem possible, at first sight, to assume that Rembrandt took
up the etching-needle in 1628, which is the first date we have, and
laid it down in 1 661, as that is the last, but we have not the slightest
proof that he did not begin to etch when he was sixteen instead of
twenty-one, or that he did not continue the practice ofthe art after having,
from negligence or discouragement, entirely ceased to put dates upon his
productions. The matter may seem to be of slight importance in
comparison with the authenticity or the technical excellence of the plates
themselves, but it is really more important than, at first sight, it may
appear. If we knew exactly the order in which all the plates were
executed we might observe with the keenest interest the signs of mental
and technical progress. This is possible, in some degree, even with
the dated works that are accessible to us, although, as we have seen,
they are not very much more than half of the magnificent OEuvre.
My rule to refer in the biographical part to dated plates only is
a restriction on the side of safety, but there is another equally important,
and that is that a critic ought not to refer, except by way of caution,
to any plate of whose authenticity he is not perfectly satisfied. The
reader not yet familiar with the controversy concerning Rembrandt's
etchings may be briefly told in this place that a plate may be signed with
his name, and dated, without being necessarily his handiwork. The
etchings accumulated in collections under the name of Rembrandt may
be classed in these five categories.
I. Those plates of which the conception and execution are equally
and entirely those of Rembrandt himself. This category includes both
successful plates and failures which are rather numerous in proportion,
but the failure is in most instances purely technical and does not greatly
interfere with the mental qualities of the performance.
2. Plates of which the idea and design belong to Rembrandt but
of which the execution has been partially entrusted to assistants.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 9
3. Plates designed by Rembrandt but executed entirely by others.
4. Plates of which the manual execution is more or less completely
due to Rembrandt, but in composing which he made use of borrowed
ideas. 5. Plates with which Rembrandt had nothing whatever to do, either
mentally or manually.
Now of these five categories, I intend to confine myself, in the two
earlier parts of the present essay, entirely to the first. In my third
part, I shall enter upon the stony and thorny ground of controversy
and deal with the doubtful or contested plates, not that I have any
particular eagerness for controversial warfare, but because, in this case
it is impossible to keep out of it. Besides, no reasonable person could
fall into the illogical fallacy of interpreting an attack upon the
authenticity of more or less spurious Rembrandts as an attack upon
Rembrandt himself. The truth is that no kinder service can be rendered
to a great artist by the most faithful of his admirers than the detection
of those works that the cupidity of some, and the uncritical confidence of
others, have falsely attributed to him. Every work justly discarded
relieves his reputation of a burden, and when we reflect how ready
posterity always is to attribute works to celebrities whose names are
familiar to it, and how strongly persons who have them in their
possession, or desire to sell them, are biassed in favour of such
attribution, it seems inevitable that these burdens should be laid upon
the memory of the dead.
The absence of concord amongst authorities is shown in the following
little table: — Bartsch (1797)  admits 375 plates.
Claussin (1824)  „ 365369
353 353329
363

Wilson (1836) ....
Charles Blanc (1859-61)
Vosmaer (1868-77) •
Middleton (1878) . . .
Dutuit (1883) . . . .

Charles Blanc gives a list of twenty-nine rejected plates and makes
an addition of seven to the catalogue. Vosmaer accepts the number
given by Blanc as well as his system of order. Mr. Middleton gives

IO THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
a list of eighteen rejected studies and sketches with thirty rejected
landscapes, and M. Dutuit adds to his catalogue a list of six etchings
"attributed to" Rembrandt, and two "falsely attributed." It is
unnecessary to go further into these questions at present. The reader
sees the necessity for great caution, but I may add, to reassure him,
that the great majority of the plates still attributed to Rembrandt
bear so visibly the impress of his hand and genius that they are accepted
without hesitation by every one who is familiar with his styles (for he
had several styles) and with the very different moods of his versatile
and generally quite original mind. He sometimes borrowed from others,
but not often, and though it is now evident that he accepted assistance
in the execution of certain plates that bear his name, we must still
remember that he was one of the most personally industrious of great
artists and one of those who have been most rarely dependent upon
auxiliaries. It remains only to be added that references to plates will be
accompanied, at least once, hy the numbers given respectively in the
catalogues of Bartsch and Middleton. That of Bartsch, though nearly
a hundred years old, is still a living work, in continual requisition, whilst
Mr. Middleton's catalogue has the advantages of being written in
English eighty years later, and of being easily accessible to Englishmen.
I would willingly have given references, in addition, to that of Charles
Blanc, as it is very clear and readable, and was charmingly illustrated
by Flameng, but it seemed that a string of three references to every
plate was likely to be confusing, especially as the names of the
Frenchman and the German begin with the same letter.

II
The reputation of Rembrandt has undergone the most extreme
vicissitudes. In his own life-time he rose from obscurity to a local
and afterwards national celebrity, but sank down again, several years
before his death, into the trying position of a neglected and unfashionable
artist. " Often," says Vosmaer, " have I felt Indignant at the small
degree of enthusiasm manifested by his contemporaries." Vondel either
really cared nothing for Rembrandt or affected complete indifference.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT ii
Another contemporary poet said that as Rembrandt found he could
not equal Titian, Vandyke or Michael Angelo, he preferred to wander
from the right path and become the first heretic in art rather than
strengthen himself by following the most experienced. Houbraken
speaks of the art of Rembrandt in the past tense, saying that it had
(at one time) the success of novelty, it was a fashion, and artists had
been obliged to imitate him in order to sell, even when their own
manner of painting was far superior. Lairesse condemned Rembrandt
and Lievens together, but, with a distant approach to generosity, went
so far as to admit that Rembrandt's way of painting was " not absolutely
bad." Some time after the artist's death came a reaction in his favour
showing itself decidedly in the beginning of the eighteenth century by
an extended appreciation in foreign countries. Still, throughout the
eighteenth century, criticism was too subservient to classical authority
to recognise Rembrandt with any complete cordiality, and if he was
praised for some qualities he was condemned, with at least equal
frankness, for the defects that accompanied them. Even so late in the
century as the time of Barry, who began his Academy lectures in 1784,
it was possible for him to speak of Rembrandt's " laborious, ignorant
diligence," in rendering the " multiplied wrinkles and trifling peculiarities
of the skin." He admitted the ability of Rembrandt in colouring and
chiaroscuro but hated his most masterly style, condemning the "obtrusive,
licentious, slovenly conduct of his pencil " as " not less disgusting than
it is useless." Opie spoke of him as " foremost of those who in the
opinion of some critics cut the knot instead of untying it, and
burglariously entered the Temple of Fame by the window." Reynolds
compared Poussin with Rembrandt as to their composition and manage
ment of light and shadow, adding that they " ran into contrary extremes
and that it is difficult to determine which is the most reprehensible, both
being equally distant from the demands of nature and the purposes of
art." He admits that the pictures of Rembrandt may "not come amiss
when mixed with the performances of artists of a more regular manner "
Reynolds was just however (without being in the least enthusiastic)
about both drawing and colour in The Anatomical Lesson. Fuseli
appreciated Rembrandt better, classing him as a genius of the first
rank "in whatever relates not to form." Again, Fuseli has an intelligent

12 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
onslaught upon the topographic delineation of landscape and says that
the landscape of Rembrandt "spurns all relation with this kind of
map-work." He describes Rembrandt's figures as "uniform abstracts
of lumpy or meagre deformity," but admits that, " form only excepted,
he possessed every power that constitutes genius in art.
All these academical opinions, including the favourable one of
Constable on Rembrandt's chiaroscuro picture of the Mill, refer to the
master's work in painting, not to his etchings. One of the first English
artists who took any special interest in the etchings was the elder Leslie,
and he once wrote a short sentence of five lines about the services of
photography in reproducing "these inestimable works." Mr. Ruskin
once gave a foot-note, also of five lines, to Rembrandt's etchings, that
appreciated the synthetic quality of the landscapes, and in the text of
" Modern Painters," there are references to two plates, The Presentation
in the Temple (B. 50. M. 243) and The Shell (B. 159. M. 290). I
do not remember any other reference to the etchings in Mr. Ruskin's
works except some depreciatory remarks upon their technique in a letter
on the etchings of Mr. Ernest George,
In most of these instances of criticism, what strikes us is the remark
able coolness of the critics, their absence of anything approaching to
enthusiasm. Those who appreciate in some degree the qualities of the
master are not carried away by them, they have not the tone of critics
speaking about an artist who has delighted them and whose defects they
may be aware of but are willing to overlook ; they have the tone of men
who, when they praise, do it from a wish to avoid injustice. Fuseli is
hearty in praise and blame, Leslie and Constable praise heartily as far as
they go, but are extremely laconical. The brevity of Mr. Ruskin is still
more striking in a diffusely eloquent writer — six lines for the religious
subjects, five for the landscapes, two for a study of still life !
The truth appears to be that the present splendour of Rembrandt's
fame is more recent than we can easily realise. It has been due to several
causes, distinct in themselves, but all operating together. The first is the
complete extinction of classicism as an exclusive authority though it has
happily survived, and with improved culture, as a taste. The second lies
in the greater facilities for travelling which have enabled critics to see
more of Rembrandt's whole performance and know him better, and the

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 13
third is in the invention of certain processes of engraving in which
photography does the drawing, though not the biting, and so far ensures
a considerable degree of fidelity, as well as cheapness in the most recent
reproductions. But these causes, potent as they are, would probably have
had a less effect on Rembrandt's fame if they had not been accompanied,
in all civilised countries, by a revival of the art of etching. The opinion
amongst etchers which enthrones Rembrandt as the king of their craft is
the most recent instance of perfect unanimity amongst people of all
nationalities. As we all say that Phidias was the greatest sculptor.
Homer the greatest epic poet, and Shakespeare the greatest dramatist, so
are we all agreed upon the world-wide supremacy of Rembrandt. And
the higher our appreciation of etching as essentially an artist's art the more
exalted becomes the position of its greatest practitioner. I am told that, of
late years, there has been some decline in the appreciation of etching.
Perhaps it is no longer fashionable to pretend to be enchanted by its
masterpieces, but these changes of surface-fashion have little to do with
culture. The plain truth is that the etched work of Rembrandt is now
intelligible to thousands, whereas in the beginning of the present century
it was almost like an unknown tongue, or characters understood by few.
Another recent piece of good fortune for Rembrandt is that he has
fallen into the hands of a competent biographer, Vosmaer, a writer
entirely free from that credulity of mediocrity which makes it ever ready
to accept the common calumnies against genius. The idlest and most
ridiculous stories about Rembrandt had become traditional. Vosmaer
showed that they had not, and that they could not have, any other
foundation than the inventive spite of a great man's usual detractors. He
showed us Rembrandt as he lived, a man of immense industry and the
simplest tastes (with the one exception of a passion for works of art), a
man whose force of character and courage In adversity immediately
suggest to English readers the name of one great in another art who died
like Rembrandt in harness and at Rembrandt's years, the artist who died
at Abbotsford. In his own lines of work there is no one in all history to be compared
with Rembrandt; in artistic influence he has one equal, entirely unlike
himself, and that is Raphael. It was not by accident that medallions of
these two were put together on the cover of the Portfolio. They are

14 T'HE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
the two most influential graphic artists of all time. Comte defined art as
consisting in the three processes of observation, imitation, and idealisation.
The three are common to both artists but in Rembrandt observation
predominates, in Raphael idealisation. As for Imitation they are alike in
possessing the power of it and in using it more or less, but always
subordinately to the artistic purpose. Raphael is called quite accurately
in a certain sense, " the divine " ; " the human " is an epithet that might,
with equal justice, be applied to Rembrandt.

Ill
The date of the first etchings that have any date at all is the year
1628, when the artist was twenty-one years old. There are two
signed etchings for that year. One of them. An Old Woman s
Head, full face, seen only to the Chin (B. 352. M. 6.), is very simply
etched, though drawn with easy skill, especially visible in the reserves of
half-light in the shaded parts. It is already the work of an artist, but
has no special distinction. The other little plate, Bust of an Old Woman,
lightly etched (B. 354. M. 5), is much more than that; it is the work,
already, of a great and most accomplished master. It was never
afterwards surpassed, either in the penetrating observation of nature, or
in delicate sufficiency of execution, by any subsequent work of Rembrandt
himself, and it is almost impossible to believe that even so strong a
natural genius as his could produce work of such rare excellence without
years of previous practice, not only in drawing, but in actual work
with the etching needle. He probably began to etch in his minority,
making attempts that did not seem to him worth dating, then he did
these things, and put not only his signature, but the year. However
this may be, the fact is certain that at the age of twenty-one
he had already mastered one of his several styles. I do not wish to
exaggerate the matter, I do not believe that at twenty-one he could have
got through such a task as the portrait of the Burgomaster Six, but he
had already one of the strings to his bow.
At the date of these plates Rembrandt was living at his father's house
in Leyden. He had been destined to a learned profession, but had not
taken well to classical studies, and instead of proceeding with them had

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 15
followed art in Van Swanenburch's studio for three years, which probably
ended about 1620. After that he had been apprenticed to Pieter
Lastman and stayed with him, according to Orlers, six months. It is
believed that he returned to his father's house about 1623, and stayed
there till 1630. At the date of the etchings that occupy us he had
already painted a picture which Is known and now at Stuttgart, and he
had also taken his first pupil, Gerard Dow. Everything is rather early,
rather precocious, with Rembrandt. He .got up early in the morning
of life, and set to work at a time when others are dreaming about what
they Intend to do. It has been assumed that the little etchings cf
1628 were portraits of Rembrandt's mother, and they are so entered in
Blanc's catalogue, but there is no evidence in favour of such an idea.
According to Vosmaer the mother was about thirty-five years old at
the date of Rembrandt's birth, consequently she would be about fifty-six
when he came of age, but the old lady in the etching looks past seventy.'
There is just one etching for 1629, and that is an excellent proof of
the tendency to vary his styles and m^ake experiments, which was in
Rembrandt's nature, and remained with him through life. The title of
it in Mr. Middleton's catalogue Is Rembrandt, a Bust; supposed to le
engraved on Pewter (B. 336. M. 7.). It Is a rough sketch in a bold
and decided manner, without any attempt at delicacy of tone or even of
line, but immense vivacity of handling, and the peculiarity of it is
that some of the shading is done with a double point, as If two points
had been tied together, which they probably were. Many etchers have
tried that experiment for greater speed in shading, but it does not really
advance matters very much, and Rembrandt never afterwards recurred
to It. The year 1630 is remarkable for a series of small plates, in which
the artist amused himself In studying expression by assuming it in his
own features. The practice may easily be represented as ridiculous, and
has, no doubt, a ludicrous aspect, as it Is difficult to think quite seriously
of a grown man making faces, as children do, before a glass. It has been
^ Many women after seventy are better preserved than Rembrandt's old lady; Queen
Victoria is an instance, and in quiet middle-class life good preservation is by no means
rare. This Dutchwoman, tranquil and fairly well off, might very well be eighty. I
have known a younger-looking lady at ninety-three.

i6

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBR.INDT

done occasionally by modern actors for instantaneous photography, and
with this result, that when the costume is changed at the same time as
the expression the original human being becomes unrecognisable, Rem
brandt himself is not always immediately recognised in these etchings,
but wc get accustomed to the changes in his physiognomy, in his head
gear, and in the length of his hair. We have him " with an open
mouth" (B. 13. M. 22.); "with an air of grimace" (B. 10. M. 23.);
"with haggard eyes" (B. 320. M. 24.); and "laughing" (B. 316.
M. 25.). These little plates, and others, probably of the same date, or
very near it, are executed with a fine point, and are distinguished by an
extreme manual facility. The evident speed of their execution does not,
however, prevent the artist from noticing the most minute truths of form
and of light and shade, as, for example, in the learnedly reserved reflec-

Ranb.

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B. -lib. M. :v

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Kcmbrandt ivitk an .-it
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B. 320. .1/"

-./ E\a.

tions in the shading of Rembrandt -ivith an open Mouth (B. 13. M. 22.).
There may be haste in such work as this, but there is no carelessness, and
as for vitality it is superabundant, both in the subjects and the execution.
In the same year, 1630, Rembrandt made two serious etchings ot
himself, one "with curly hair risinor into a tuft o\'cr the right eye"
(B. 27. M. 26.) the other " with fur cap and light dress " (B. 24. M. 27.).
Both these plates are very lightly sketched in the manner that the French
call "croquis." The one with the fur cap is a pleasant and probably
very truthful likeness of the artist at the age of twenty-three, without

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

17

any flattery as to form, but having the air of a young man at the
same time very intelligent and perfectly satisfied with himself. The
other gives a fine idea of Rembrandt's abundant head of hair which
resembles as to quantity the wigs of the eighteenth' century. It may
be that he sometimes added in his paintings and etchings to the
liberal gifts of nature, as in portraits of the same year the hair is at
one time prodigious and at another ordinary. For example, in
Rembrandt with Haggard Eyes, there Is not enough of it to attract
attention. Rembrandt now began his long series of etchings of scriptural
subjects. One, dated 1630, is a Jesus Disputing with the Doctors
(B. 66. M. 177.), a small plate, delicately etched, but very grandly
conceived, and another of the same year is The Presentation with the
Angel (B. 51. M. 178.), called so because an angel with wings appears
over the left shoulder of Anna the prophetess. Like the Jesus
Disputing, this plate is of small dimen
sions and slight rather than powerful
execution. It seems highly probable that Rem
brandt began to etch beggars very early
in life, as the style that he adopted
for that class of subject was quite fully
developed in 1630, and there are several
etchings of that year, dated, which are not
inferior in execution to the numerous
beggar subjects of later years. There
are also some good portrait studies,
for example. An Old Man with a Large
Beard, the Shoulders lo-wer than the Ears
(B. 309, M. 31), which is one of
Rembrandt's finest studies of old age.
There is the Profile of a Bald Man (B. 292. M. 39.) and the
Portrait of a Alan -with a broad-brimmed Hat and a Ruff which is
unquestionably one of the most entirely satisfactory of Rembrandt's
simpler little plates (B. 311. M. 28.).
I have dwelt in some detail on these plates because they have a
c

lSL'.'^j". ¦¦

Tivo Beggars^ a Man and a Woman
Cowvernng. B. 164. lid. 37.

i8

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

special interest as showing what a good start Rembrandt made in
etching, and how early in life. We have now to remember that at
the age of twenty-one he executed the little plate of the old lady,
which has never been surpassed in its own way, and that at twenty-three
he had tried his hand, with rare success, on a variety of subjects and
In three or four different styles. He was already in the peculiar
situation of an artist who has left himself no room for Improvement
except in attempting art of another kind, and in overcoming new,
though possibly not greater difficulties.
With the exception of the six months spent in the studio of Pieter
Lastman, Rembrandt had hitherto remained entirely with his parents
at Leyden, as his three years' pupilage with Swanenburch, then a
Leyden artist, does not imply any change of residence. Rembrandt's
youth had been free from every care but that of his own progress
in art. His parents were in easy circumstances In the burgher class

new of Amsterdam. B. 210. M. 304.

and if he had not received a full classical education it was only because
he had not taken to it. Born for the graphic arts, he had taken to
painting and etching with the utmost interest and immediate success.
This justified him in establishing himself as an artist with a house
and studio of his own, and he selected Amsterdam rather than Leyden
as a place of residence, though the choice involved a separation from

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 19
his father, who died about two years later, from his mother, who
lived on for ten years, and from his four brothers and two sisters
who were all living at that time. Settled In Amsterdam In 1630,
Rembrandt resumed his etching. The plates dated 1631 include
twenty-seven portraits and studies, one " fancy composition," if a
single figure deserves the title, but no religious subject. This year
the portraits Include five of himself, of which the most perfect,
technically, is Rembrandt with Round Fur Cap, full face (B. 16.
M. 45.) but that is In the earlier style. The desire for new con
quests is shown in the larger Rembrandt with Broad Hat and
Embroidered Mantle (B. 7. M. 52.) In which the etcher has laboriously
aimed at high finish and rich textures without, however, abandoning
his former delicate treatment of light passages as in the collar and
the lighted side of the face and hair. It may be noted as a sign of
increasing prosperity and self-respect that the young painter. Instead
of pulling faces in the glass, now poses before it with the air and
costume of a well-bred gentleman. Another very fine portrait of this
time is that of the Man with a Short Beard and Embroidered Cloak
(B. 263. M. 77.), full of clear and decided drawing without any over-
finish. The student may observe how completely explanatory, with few
lines, is the treatment of the costume. Rembrandt still retains his
former interest In old age and proves It by a wonderfully beautiful
Bust of an Old Man with a Long Beard (B. 260. M. 62.). The
wrinkled forehead would no doubt have been accepted by Barry as a
proof of Rembrandt's " Ignorant diligence" In copying " the multiplied
wrinkles and trifling peculiarities of the skin." This is one of the most
perfect of Rembrandt's lighter and more delicate etchings, and there Is
another charming little sketch plate of an old bearded man with the
date of 1 63 1 (B. 315. M. 63.). In this year Rembrandt went on with
his series of beggars, but without any change of style, and etched in the
same light manner a clever plate of very small dimensions known as
The Little Polander (B. 142. M. 79.). One of the most important
works of the year was the portrait of Rembrandts Mother, her Hand
resting upon her Breast (B. 348. M. 55.). This etching belongs to
the same class of serious, highly finished, and dignified works as the
portrait of the artist himself with the Broad Hat and Embroidered c 2

20 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
Mantle. It was a new style with Rembrandt then and these works
have an air which implies that he took a certain pride In it. Certainly
this portrait of his mother is one of the most beautiful etchings he ever
produced. The contrasts of delicacy and strength of line In flesh and
costume are extreme but never offensive. They occur always In the
right place and however easy the workmanship there is no carelessness.
For the year 1632 there is nothing dated, in the way of studies and
portraits, except a vastly broad figure of a Persian " swell " (there Is
no other word for him) who goes swaggering along with cloak, and
fringes, and medal, and cane, and plume! It is a charming example
of the serio-comical, admirably etched in a light Incisive way (B. 152.
M. 91.). The same year is marked by a return to religious subjects in
a St. Jerome, praying passionately, St. Jerome Kneeling, an Arched
Print (B. loi. M. 183.). Notwithstanding the difference of subject,
St. Jerome Is etched in the same light and clever manner as the
distinguished Persian. This, too, is the year of The Rat Killer (B. 121.
M. 261.), one of Rembrandt's characteristic plates of popular subjects
reminding us in that respect of Ostade, and also In the complete absence
of local colour. The execution is like that of some of the beggar series
but not so lively as the best of them. It is a complete Dutch picture
as to composition, though the llght-and-shade is little more than
indicated. I have never admired the portrait of 1633, Rembrandt with a Scarf
round his Neck (B. 17, M. 99). The face is almost entirely In shade,
except a little sunshine on the left cheek, and as the shading Is heavy,
coarse, and over-bitten, It looks as if the original had had his face
blackened. It is most difficult to give a satisfactory account of Rembrandt's
etched work for the year 1633, as it so happens that some of the most
important parts of what is attributed to him for that year are subjects
of doubt and discussion, and must therefore be reserved for later con
sideration. There is no evidence that Rembrandt made any progress as
an etcher in that year. What was intended to be a very important plate,
a great Descent from the Cross, was entirely ruined in the biting, ruined
past redemption, so that after two or three trial proofs the plate was
abandoned. A second plate of the same composition appears to have been

S««;s^ffi4.5vfq

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 21
etched by another hand. We know from the number of pictures signed
by Rembrandt at this time or soon after that he was most industriously
occupied with painting, and he now began, probably for commercial
reasons, to make compositions for large plates full of tiresome work and
for which he would naturally be tempted to employ assistants. The
experience of all etchers has shown that the big commercial plate is an
artistic error, whatever may be its immediate pecuniary advantages.
There is, however, a very little plate. An Old JJ^oman etched no lower than
the Chin (B. 351, M. loi), which is a return,
without any visible improvement, to the artist's
simplest and most elementary style of five years
before. The production of large commercial plates, as
well as the painting of many pictures about this
time, may have been connected with Ideas of mar
riage In obedience to the Shakespearian rule, " Put
money in thy purse." In Tune 16^4 Rembrandt An ou ifoman a.-ked no
' ^ t •' ^^ toivcr tluvi the Chin.
married Saskla van Ulenburgh at Bllt in Friesland. p-- 3^'- ^''- 'o'-
She was a young lady of good family, and although
Rembrandt was not in the least worldly or what is called a " society
man," still, as his marriage Improved his social position, he may have
been tempted to some display about this time. It was a very brilliant
marriage for a young artist. Vosmaer tells us that Saskla gave Rem
brandt admission "into a distinguished family, whose members Illustrated
the magistrature, science, literature, and the arts." She also brought
Rembrandt a good fortune, and there is evidence that the marriage was a
happy one.
There are uncertainties and disappointments in etching even for the
most experienced masters, and one of the worst plates that Rembrandt ever
made, if. Indeed, he did entirely execute it with his own hand, is the
portrait of 7^« cVy/i'/«j (B. 266. M. no.), that of 1634, which is not
to be confounded with the fine later portrait of Sylvius preaching,
executed four years later. The first Sylvius does not show Rembrandt's
usual skill in drawing (look at the right nostril and the wooden hands)
whilst the shading is heavy and of poor quality, being without any
effectual varieties of tone, texture, and handling. Admiration of bad

22 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
work like this, whether sincere or feigned, only diminishes the value
of that which is rightly given to good examples of the art. It is
interesting to observe that In the same year (1634) Rembrandt recurred
to the very simplest and most elementary (but often most satisfac
tory) kind of etching, clear line and plain shading, in some studies of
beggars which are admirable examples of such work, to be recommended
to the attention of all practical beginners.
The year 1634 is that of the very celebrated etching called The Great
Jewish Bride (B. 340. M. 108.). This title has nothing to do with the
bigness of the bride herself; it is merely used to distinguish the plate
from a smaller one of another person. M. Charles Blanc made It out to
his own satisfaction that this is really a portrait of Saskla, Rembrandt's
wife, his strongest argument being that the plate was executed in the year
of his marriage. The other argument, based on likeness to known
portraits of Saskla, is untenable. The two women are not of the same
feminine type. The Saskla who is in the plate called Retnbrandt and his
Wife (B. 19. M. 128.) is a bright-looking, intelligent woman, and so is
the lady, evidently the same person, in Rembrandt s Wife and Five other
Heads (B. 365. M. 129.). The Jewish Bride, on the other hand, has
certainly less than the usual Intelligence of her race. She Is a fine
woman, physically, and she has magnificent hair, but she Is only a fine
woman and Saskla Is much more. Besides, the Jewish lady looks as if
she could be bad-tempered, which Saskla does not. The Jev/ess has a
low forehead, a large ugly mouth with protruding lower lip, and a very
dark complexion ; Saskia's forehead is high, her mouth small and pretty,
and her complexion fair. M. Charles Blanc believed that the uppermost
of the Three Heads of Women (B. 367. M. 115.) had at least been
suggested by Saskla. This seems very probable, the face Is pleasant and
Intelligent. The Great Jewish Bride, in its finished state, is an attempt at
complete tonality. It is more successful in that respect than the first
portrait of Sylvius, but I may be excused for preferring the costume
portrait which Mr. Middleton calls Portrait, Unknown, of a Man with a
Sabre (B. 23. M. in.), but which Mr. Haden and others have believed
to be Rembrandt himself. M. Charles Blanc was disposed to abandon this
idea, as there is not much likeness to other self-portraits of the master

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 23
and there Is a wart on this face that does not occur In the others. Blanc
saw a likeness to the Duke of Gueldres, but the search of an original Is
unnecessary, as the etching is most probably a fancy piece, only bearino-
some resemblance to Rembrandt himself, without pretending to be a
likeness. It is very cleverly executed. The shade on the face is too
black, which may probably be accounted for by the original Intention

\\( , X N%^i

Three Heads of Women. B. 367. M. 115.

to use the copper as an ornamental plate on a box rather than for
printing. There was, however, In Rembrandt's work at this time a
decided tendency to over-shading, the consequence of those experiments
in full tonality which all etchers seem to be, at one time in their lives,
tempted to make. A charming plate of this year, A Young Woman
reading (B. 345, M. 109.), Is injured by too great darkness and heaviness
in the shading of the face. In the same year, 1634, we find two small
plates of religious subjects. The Samaritan Woman — at the Ruins (B. 71.

24

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRAND:

M. 195.) and Jesus and the Disciples at Emmaus (B. 88. M. 194.)
in which full tonality is not attempted. There are, however, some reasons
for believing that Rembrandt borrowed the conception of these works
from other artists. Mr. Haden suggests Dow for the Samaritan JVoman.
The Martyrdom of St. Stephen (B. 97. M. 197) is a work of the same
class, well composed, brilliant and effective, but far from being one ofthe

A Young Woman rending. B. ^45. 71/. 109.

best drawn amongst Rembrandt's etchings ; the lower part of St. Stephen's
body is very difficult to defend or account for satisfactorily. There is
bad drawing, too. In the poor plate of Jesus Christ Driving out the Money
Changers {B. 69. M. 198.), of which the principal figure is borrowed from
Albert Diirer, whilst the miserable cow, besides being much too small, is
hardly better as a study of animal life than the scared cattle in the large
plate of The Angel appearing to the Shepherds (B. 44. M. 191.). The

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

25

truth is that Rembrandt was a most unequal artist and that there is no
regularity in his onward course. He was always ready to etch with a
new aim and adopt some style in which he had not much previous ex
perience, the attempt being sometimes successful and sometimes partially
or completely a failure. We have seen how he attempted complete
tonality in The Great Je-wish Bride and woodcut effects in three ot the
smaller religious compositions. It Is strange that the author of these
plates could and did, nearly at the same date, etch such a marvellously
perfect little m?,sttv'p\cczz.s The Mountebank (B. 129.
M. 117.). The execution is most intelligent, not
a line too many nor a shade too dark, and no one
doubts that it is by the hand of Rembrandt,
though the original idea of the subject has been
attributed to Jan Van de Velde. The well-
known portrait of Johannes Uijtenbogaerd (B. 279.
M. 114.) is a realisation of that complete scale
of lights and darks which Rembrandt had for
some time, in an intermittent way, been aiming
at. It is very fortunate that the desire for depth
and richness did not lead, in this instance, to any
overshading of the face which Is delicately and
most observantly drawn. There is an early state
of the plate before the darkening of the back
ground. As In the Uijtenbogaerd the scheme of
light and dark is a bright centre surrounded by dark shades, so in
The Pancake Woman (B. 124. M. 264.) the scheme is a dark figure
surrounded by lighter ones and by a light background. The style is
as different as possible from that of the other plates of the year 1635.
The Idea and composition are hardly like Rembrandt and have been
credited to the original author of The Mountebank.
Rembrandt continued the practice of his lighter style in 1636. For
example, the portrait of Menasseh Ben Israel (B. 269. M. 127.) is an ex
cellent example of plain straightforward etching in clearly bitten black line.
I take the liberty of recommending it as a good model for amateurs ;
if they think such etching does not look delicate enough they can work
over it, sparingly and judiciously, in dry point. Mr. Middleton says

¦ - f -
The Mountebank.
B. 129. M. iij.

26

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

that Menasseh Ben Israel " was one of Rembrandt's most intimate friends,
living near him In the Breedstraat. He early established his reputation
as an author; and it shows the high estimation in which he was held

THE PRODIGAL SON. B. gi. M.zoi.

by his co-religionists that he was deputed by them to undertake a mission
to the Protector Cromwell to obtain from him the recall of the Jews to
England." A very important little work from the biographical point of view is

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 27
the etching of Rembrandt and his Wife (B. 19. M. 128.). By an effect
of what Is called " exaggerated perspective," ^ Rembrandt's face appears
enormous in comparison with that of Saskla. It is pleasant to know
that she was a good wife to him, and that their short married life was
a happy one. She appears again In the plate of sketches called
Rembrandts Wife and Five other Heads (B. 365. M. 129.). They are
all masterly sketches without more than a clear suggestion of light
and shade. The year 1636 is also the date of The Prodigal Son (B. 91.
M. 201.), an etching in Rembrandt's simplest manner, not agreeable at
first sight, as there is little charm of execution and the personao-es,
especially the wretched youth himself, are ill-favoured, but the subject
has never been treated with deeper imaginative sympathy. The
repentant humility of the son and the affectionate forgiving tenderness
of the father are enough to disarm criticisn:

IV
Ihe years through which we are now passing were the happiest of
Rembrandt's life. The great fertility of his mind and hand and a
habit of regarding an " old master " as a very experienced man may
Lasily make us forget that in 1637 Rembrandt was only thirty years
old and his beloved Saskla only twenty-five. Yet If Rembrandt had
died at that time his name would still have survived as that of a great
master. He had already done some of his very best work both in
painting and etching. He had painted The Anatomical Lesson five
years before and, before that or after, many a picture now in the most
famous collections of the world. As for what he had done in etching,
Ineed only say that the plates I have mentioned give an inadequate
idea as I have restricted myself, hitherto, to those which bear a date.
Rembrandt was a man of great courage, great fortitude, so that he bore

1 The expression is not accurate but we know what is meant by it. When the
draughtsman is too near to the nearest objects which he represents, he may draw them
quite truthfully and accurately and yet make them look too big relatively to what is
behind them. This is a very common fault even in the present day and in the works
of the most distinguished draug'ntsmcn, who do not seem to perceive how objectionable
It is.

2 8 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
well in later life the stress and strain of sorrow, solitude, and adversity,
but it is pleasant to think that he lived the golden days of his life's
summer at Amsterdam with Saskla, a summer of fame and love, of
pecuniary ease and peace, surrounded by works of art, and In a large
richly furnished mansion which we may be sure that Saskla, as a Dutch
lady of good family, would keep for him in the most exquisite cleanliness
and order. It Is true that there had been changes In the old paternal
home at Leyden. Rembrandt's father, Harmen, had died about 1632,
his mother lost three of her children before 1640 and lived with her
youngest daughter Lijsbeth. The eldest son Adriaen, who was seventeen
years older than Rembrandt, kept on the paternal mill. Such was the
situation of Rembrandt and his family when he was thirty years old.
He was already a father, his son Rumbartus having been born in
December 1635.
Three of the most perfect of Rembrandt's smaller plates belong to
the year 1637. We have Abraham sending away Hagar and Ishmael
(B. 30. M. 204.), an exquisite work by no means overcharged with labour,
and not pretending to be in full tone, yet extremely rich in materials and
in the abundant but not obtrusive indication of details. The dramatic
action of the figures Is very finely conceived, especially that of the
majestic, unpltying patriarch. In the same year we find a portrait,
also of the patriarchal type. An Old Man wearing a rich Velvet Cap
(B. 313. M. 131.) highly finished, but not over-shaded and well preserving
the different qualities of flesh, and hair, and dress in which it is much
superior, for example, to the Young Woman reading (B. 345. M. 109.)
though that is also. In other ways, an excellent etching. A very
admirable portrait of 1637 is A Young Man seated, turned to the Left
(B. 268. M. 132.). This is called in the French catalogues "Jeune
homme assis et reflechissant " because he has a serious expression of
thoughtful meditation. Without being so highly finished as the portrait
just described it is equally sound in workmanship and unquestionably one
of the most faultless pieces in the whole collection. It always strongly
reminds me of Francia's absorbing and entrancing picture of the
melancholy young man In the Louvre. The reader will remember that
in 1636 Rembrandt made several sketches of heads on the same copper.
Including a pretty portrait of Saskla. He repeated the experiment In

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 29
1637 with one head as a study of sleep. The etching Is entered In Mr.
Middleton's catalogue as Three Heads of Women, One asleep (B. 368.
M. 130.). The plate Is not quite so light and elegant In touch and
treatment as that of the preceding year, nor are the models so agreeable,
but the sleeping woman is most closely observed.
I hope the reader will not take It as evidence of disrespect towards
our first parents if I say that it is Impossible to look at Rembrandt's
etching of Adam and Eve (B. 38. M. 206.) without a lively sense of the
ludicrous. Rembrandt did not flatter our vanity by telling us that we
had such ancestors as these. So remote are they from all our notions of
what is comely In the human form, that one regrets the Impossibility
(whilst remaining faithful to the text) of providing them with decent
habiliments. Even M. Dutuit, with all his admiration for Rembrandt,
admits that "Adam et Eve ont reellement une figure repoussante." So,
Indeed, they have, and yet, in spite of their ugliness, the etching as
a whole is far from being destitute of artistic beauty. It Is finely
composed and well lighted. The dragon that represents the serpent
Is grandly conceived, and the attitudes of Adam and Eve would have
been appreciated in handsomer bodies. The manual execution of the
simple linear work all about the tree and dragon is strong and masterly,
bearing some resemblance to the pen-drawing of Titian.
A less questionable scriptural subject of this year is Joseph telling his
Dreams (B 37. M. 205.), a rich little composition, as the subject was a
good pretext for crowding many figures Into a small space. This etching
Is closely related in style to such plates as the little one of The Disciples
at Emmaus and The Stoning of St. Stephen. The portraits of the year
include Rembrandt in Mezetin Cap and Feather (B. 20. M. 134.), a 'plate
which looks less effective than many others because there are no intense
blacks, and because it is almost uniformly etched with a fine point
throughout, but there is much beautiful drawing in it, and much character,
and Mr. Middleton observes that, " when rich in tone and exquisitely
clear, as In the superb impression at Amsterdam, it is a work of
singular beauty."
There is a well-known little etching of 1638, which has been called
by two different names. Saint Catherine, and also The Little Jewish Bride
(B. 342. M. 135.). It is pretty, both from the pleasing character of

30 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
the model and the absence of all pretension in her pose. The execution
Is equally unpretending, the very simplicity of treatment and biting
having led to a certain wirlness In the hair. Some believe that this Is a
study of Saskla, but this girlish face Is not like that of the clever-looking
young woman in the plate of sketches (B. t,^c,. M. 129.), and, for my
part, I remain Incredulous. The title Saint Catherine was suggested by
the wheel in the corner.

V.
Rembrandt's family increased in the year 1638, when Saskla had a
little girl whom they called Cornelya, but she lived only from the
twenty-second of July to the sixteenth of August.
Two changes of residence may also be noted, but for these we have
not precise dates. In February 1636 he had quitted the Breedstraat,
and was living in the Niewe Doelstraat. In January 1639 he lived on
the interior quay of the Amstel In a house called the Suijkerbackerij
We do not exactly know at what date he left this residence for his fine
mansion in the Jodenbreedstraat.
The year 1639 is of great importance In the history of Rembrandt's
career as an etcher. He had already done such excellent work that It
seems as if improvement must have been impossible, but his experiments
in various directions appear to have left a temporary conviction In his
mind that etchings loaded with heavy work, like The Great Jewish Bride,
were not the best adapted to expression In this art, and that a lighter
style was preferable. Nevertheless, his experience In various styles,
even In the heaviest (as in the background and lower part of Johannes
Uijtenbogaerd) had Increased his power of execution. The portrait of
himself, Rembrandt Leaning on a Stone Sill (B. 21. M. I37.)> is a
splendid example of high culture In the art of etching, going far enough
In the darks for the expression of power but completely, even in the
darkest parts, avoiding the mere thickness and density of printing ink,
whilst the treble notes of this linear music are light and clear and
faithfully true in tone. Observe how greatly superior is the shading on
this face to that of Rembrandt with a Scarf round his Neck (B. 17.
M. 99.) or to the face-blackening of Rembrandt with Bushy Hair ana

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 31
Small White Collar (B. i. M. 51.) or to that of Rembrandt in a Fur
Cap and Dark Dress (B. 6. M. 17.). The hair, too, is treated with
great skill, and In such a manner as to convey at the same time the
sense of mass and a certain vigour of Individual growth in the hairs
themselves. It Is far better, for example, than the coarse hair of The
Great Jewish Bride, and. In Itself, a sufficient answer to Mr. Ruskin's
statement that nobody had ever etched hair. It would be interesting
to see an attempt to copy it with a burin. The technical excellence
of this plate Is accompanied by a most animated expression of coun
tenance; not histrionic, as In the studies of assumed expressions, but
that of a keen Intelligence in its ordinary condition of observant wake
fulness. Another great masterpiece, small and slight as It may look, Is Youth
Surprised by Death (B. 109. M. 265.), a plate very lightly sketched
but with a rare degree of delicacy and elegance both in the execution
and in the conception of the subject. No one able to feel the charm
of first-rate sketching would wish to see a line added to such a per
formance as this, or a shade of it darkened.
And lastly, this year 1639 brings us to the magnificent Death of the
Virgin (B. 99. M. 207.), which if the dimensions of the copper, the
nobility and grandeur of the conception, and beauty of style in execution
are all to be taken Into account, is certainly the greatest of all
Rembrandt's works. It Is not so popular as Jesus Christ healing the Sick
(the Hundred Guilder Print) for which one reason may be that it has
not so striking an effect of chiaroscuro, but it is equal to it both
in human sympathy and in picturesque treatment, and superior in
the superb energy of Its most masterly style. I am well aware that
such a display of manual power, of executive bravura, is incompatible
with the perfection of form, and I know that the shapes of the angels
will not bear scrutiny, still there is much wonderful drawing In the
Virgin herself, and in the people round the death-bed.

32 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

VI
The year 1640 is marked In the biography of Rembrandt by his
mother's death, which took place in the month of September, at Leyden.
He had a second daughter this year, who was baptized in July, and
received the name of the first, Cornelya. There Is no dated etching of
1640 worth special mention except the Portrait, Unknown, of an Old Man
with a Divided Fur Cap (B. 265. M. 145.), a work of great dignity and
beauty, but not likely to be popular from the absence of vigorous
blacks. It is, however, admirably drawn, and though the distinctions of
tone and local colour are slight this etching is one of the most faultless
that Rembrandt ever executed, and perfectly harmonious In Its own key.
This brings us to the year 1641 when, in all probability, Rembrandt
removed to his fine house in the Jodenbreedstraat. My limits are too
restricted for more than an occasional glance at the artist's private life.
With the help of the inventory of Rembrandt's effects, Vosmaer made
a most interesting description of the interior of the house with its well-
furnished entrance hall where there were six Spanish chairs and twenty-
four pictures, then the antechamber full of pictures including a Palma
Vecchio, a Bassano, and a Raphael ; there were also a mirror In an ebony
frame, a big walnut table with a Tournay table-cover, and Spanish chairs
with cushions in green velvet. Beyond this room again was another
room that interests us particularly, for here was Rembrandt's private
press. However, it was not a bare and simple printing room, but
rather a picture gallery, including, as in Turner's gallery two hundred
years later, only too many of the prolific artist's unsold works, now of
inestimable value, but along with these many pictures by other masters.
Here he had his etching-table with the usual shade to temper the light,
and his oaken printing press, which was, I fear, but a clumsy piece of
mechanism in comparison with the iron machines that our scientific
makers construct for us to-day. Then there was a general sitting-
room, also full of pictures, by Rembrandt himself and others, including
a Raphael and large Giorgione.
So much for the ground floor. Above it were a suite of rooms more
like a museum than apartments In a private mansion. There was a rich

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 33
collection of paintings, sculpture, casts, porcelain, and armour, besides
many natural objects that had a picturesque Interest for the master, such
as plants, shells, and stuffed birds, in a word everything that could charm
or amuse the most cultivated visual sense. There was a smaller room
near to this, also a museum, and then came the studio adorned with
a quantity of arms and costumes, a vestibule with lions' skins, and a small
study rich in pictures. The collection of books consisted chiefly of
volumes of drawings and engravings, abundant enough to prove the keen
interest that Rembrandt took In the works of others.
The reader may imagine him living in this palace of art with his dear
Saskla, the steps of Death, however rapidly advancing, as yet Inaudible In
the distance.
The etchings of 1641 are remarkable for an extreme diversity of
manner and also, with one notable exception, for a general appearance of
haste as if their author had been too much occupied with his painting to
bestow much time upon his secondary art. The exception to this rule is
the highly finished portrait of Cornelis Anslo (B. 271. M. 146.) which
may have been taken as a model by our modern etchers from pictures.
It was, in fact, executed deliberately from a drawing. Another attempt
at full tone, but much coarser in execution, is a black little plate of this
year entitled The Schoolmaster (B. 128. M. 271.). It is a night effect —
a schoolmaster with several children arriving at the door of a house and a
woman is speaking to him from the inside. What light there Is comes
from the interior.
Amongst the etchings of 1641 is a curiously mediasval-looklng
Portrait of a Man with a Crucifix and Chain (B. 261. M. 147.). It is not
merely that the costume is of a time anterior to that of Rembrandt, but
he has adopted an archaic interpretation of life. In works really his own
there is always expression of some kind, but here the face is as void of
mind as it is of beauty. The same model, in the same costume, but less
elaborated, reappears in A Man Playing Cards (B. 136. M. 269.), a rapid
sketch on copper. Another sketch Is that of The Virgin and Child in the
Clouds (B. 61. M. 211.), which only proves how little the genius of
Rembrandt was fitted to rise above the earth and its familiar realities, and
the same may be said of The Angel ascending from Tobit and his Family
(B. 43. M. 213.), where the substantial legs and feet of the angel In the

3^ THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
air (all that Is seen of him) inevitably suggest those of Hariequin
leaping through the window.
The Baptism of the Eunuch (B. 98. M. 210.) is a sketch principally
au trait, and The Large Lion Hunt (B. 114. M. 272.) is a far swifter
sketch of a most spirited composition, in the execution of v/hich the

The Angel ascending from Tobit and his Family. B. 43. M. 213.

artist has not given himself time enough for any accuracy in form.
Three Oriental Figures (B. 118. M. 212.^) may be taken as an example
^ In Mr. Middleton's catalogue this plate is entered as faeob and Laban., a title
given to it by M. Charles Blanc. It has, however, been cogcntlv pointed out by M.
Dutuit that the incident which Blanc supposed to have been illustrated by this etching
occurred in camp life. Laban had followed Jacob, who had pitched his tent in the
mount of Gilead ; Laban stopped and encamped near him, and then went to Jacob's tent
to remonstrate with him for having stolen his goods. In the etching we see nothing of
the picturesque of camp life, which Rembrandt, who was a close reader of the Bible,
and a great lover ot the picturesque, would have been sure to seize upon. Instead of
that, we have a house without even any signs of travelling, only three people in Eastern
costume who ha\e come to speak to the occupant. I called the plate " Jacob and
Laban " in Etching and Etch^ers, vazxAj {xam. deference to Charles Blanc. However, I

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 35
of simple linear work, with a suggestion of shade, the whole without any
attempt at delicacy in biting, so that the plate remained In a good
condition for printing even to our own time, and I had an edition taken
from It in the year 1868.
The activity of Rembrandt's observant mind was always likely to
lead him In new directions, and It is not surprising to find him, in 1641,
turning his attention to landscape, for which he had a strong natural
sentiment. Two plates of this year, A Large Landscape with a Dutch
Hay Barn (B. 225. M. 306.) and A. Large Landscape with a Mill-saii
(B. 226. M. 307.) are of more importance, perhaps, as examples of
Rembrandt's skill in the treatment of picturesque rustic buildings than
as interpretations of pure nature, but although the buildings predominate
the foregrounds are treated with a lively sense of beauty in vegetation
and the distances are delightful. Rembrandt had already fixed, in its
essentials, his method of interpretation In landscape. Another plate of
1 641, The Mill, of ten called Rembrandt s MiW^ (B. 233. M. 305.), Is a
proof of his interest in picturesque buildings with a distance of very
slight importance, though not without Its own decided character.

VII
In the year 1641 Rembrandt had a son, Titus, baptized in the
December^ of that year.
In the month of June, 1642, he lost his beloved Saskla, who died
at the early age of twenty-nine years and eleven months, her husband
being then within a few weeks of thirty-five. So the fine house, with
all its treasures, was made desolate, and the still young widower was
left with his little child Titus.^ Courage and strength of will remained
to him, but the perfection of his happiness was gone for ever.
mentioned the other title also. The plain truth is that nobody knows what Rembrandt
intended to illustrate in this plate, or whether he had any intention at all, beyond the
mere grouping of some picturesque personages.
1 M. Dutuit says, "This mill is not that where Rembrandt is said to have been born.
We know positively that he was not born in a building of this kind. It is thought that
this mill was situated at Carwijk, on the Rhine."
2 Vosmaer says December in his text and September in the pedigree.
3 Vosmaer does not give the dates of death for the first boy Rumbartus, and the
n 2

36 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
The dated etchings for this sad year are neither numerous nor
important. There is a St. Jerome: in Rembrandts dark Manner (B. 105.

The Resurrection of Lazarus, A Small Print.

B.~z. AL

M.214.) of which I shall have more to say elsewhere, a very slight
linear sketch The Descent from the Cross (B. 82. M. 216.) a study^f
second girl Cornelya. Mr. Middleton says, " lo this marnagc were born tour children.
three ot whom d:ed in their earliest infancy, the fourth, Titus, alone survived" M.
Uutuit uses almost the same expressions.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 39
a picturesque cottage with a boarded fence enritled A Collage with White
Pales (B. 232. M. 308.) and The Resurrection of Lazarus: a Small Print
(B. 72. M. 215.). The last Is known in French catalogues as La Petite
Resurrection de Lazare, and will be referred to later In comparison with
the large etching of the same subject.
The year 1643 brings us to two good things — an excellent animal
study The Hog (B. 157. M. 277.), in which the animal is represented
lying down with its hind legs tied together, and a fine landscape well
known to all lovers of Rembrandt as The Three Trees (B. 212. M. 309.).
I happen to know by a positive test, that this plate Is far more popular than
one would have been likely to imagine. The best test of popularity is
the separate sale of Amand-Durand's reproductions. He tells me that
this plate sells better than any other.^ It is a grand suggestion of
landscape effect, but without any attempt (probably without any desire)
to imitate the quality of clouds or the softness of falling rain.
I have only found one signed etching for 1644, a small plate called
The Shepherd and his Family (B. 220. M. 310.).
It is unquestionable that after the death of Saskla Rembrandt was led
much more than formerly to the study of landscape. He probably went
out more, or his walks were more solitary, so he made sketches from
nature, sometimes on paper, sometimes directly on the copper. For
the year 1645 we have the View^of Omval, near^ Amsterdam (B. 209.'
M. 3ii.)> an Important and masterly performancej'and also the summary
sketch of Six's Bridge (B. 208. M. 313.), a first-rate example of rapid
selection in landscape by which all the parts of a scene. In their due
relations, are described with a minimum of labour. The influence of
this plate is visible In the slighter works of many modern artists,
particularly in those of Jongklnd. Two religious subjects of this year,
St. Peter (B. 96. M. 219.), and A Repose (B. 58. M. 218.), are shghtly
sketched and very little bitten, that little being in one biting. Possibly
Rembrandt may not have intended to leave the plates in this condition,
1 Judging by his separate sales, M. Araand-Durand believes that Christ Healing the
Sick (the Hundred Guilder Print) is the most popular of Rembrandt's etchings, but its
sales are not so large as those of The Three Trees, because the price of it is six francs,
whilst that of The Three Trees is only two. Still, it is very surprising that a landscape
should come second, as many ofthe figure-subjects are sold for its price, or less.

40

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

but they are charming sketches, answering, in etching, to work done with
the silver point or a very hard, well-sharpened, lead pencil.
The reader will remember that mention was made of a portrait of
J. C. Sylvius, etched in 1634. I ventured to say that I did not admire
it. I do, however, very heartily appreciate the merits of the etching of
1646. Jan Cornelis Sylvius ; an oval Portrait (B. 280. M. 155.) is one of
Rembrandt's finest works, as the other, If entirely by his hand, ought to
be frankly classed amongst his failures. Still, even this expressive and rr.ost
life-like portrait of the preacher is Injured by the superfluous work round

Six's Bridge. B. 208. 71/. 313.

about it, by the rude oval frame, by the too numerous engraved words,
and also by the dull shading in the background which has so little artistic
quality that it may easily have been put in by an assistant. The face Is
so strong and earnest in its eloquence that after looking at it for a minute
we feel ourselves to belong to the congregation. " He, being dead, yet
speaketh." The year 1646 may be noted for some attempts In a kind ot art for
which etching is not partlculady well qualified, the representation ofthe
naked figure. Two studies of that year deserve especial attention. An

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 41
.Academical Figure seated on the Ground (B. 196. M. 278), and A Figure,
formerly called '¦'¦The Prodigal Son"' (B. 193. M. 279). It appears
that the second is still called " The Prodigal Son " In Holland though it
is obviously nothing more than an ordinary study of the nude. The
model is seated on a stool or chair behind which is a dark curtain that
puts his flesh into vigorous relief. He is etched strongly and simply as
one might sketch with a pen, and without any Idealisation of the forms.
The other study has the same general characteristics but without such
strong oppositions of light and shade. They are good straightforward
sketch studies of very poor models, executed on the principles of the
strictest realism. After saying this, I need not add that they are far
from being beautiful, but they are honest and strong work.
Two etchings, only, bear the date of 1647, but these two are of
capital importance. One is the noble portrait of Ephraim Bonus (B. 278.
M. 158.) and the other the not less remarkable Portrait of Jan Six
(B. 285. M. 159.). It was Rembrandt's habit to try over and over again
for some quality that he desired but not to fatigue himself by toiling
continuously for the same object. He always gave himself intervals,
not of leisure, but of variety in his work, after which he tried again
to do better what he had before attempted with more or less partial
success. Almost every etcher has tried, at one period of his existence,
to etch a plate in full tone. It is not necessary, as some of the finest
etchings present only a selection of tones, but it seems to be an
inevitable ambition, as every prose-writer has written verse and every
engraver has tried to colour. These two etchings are both In full
tone. Ephraim Bonus was a Jewish physician, he has been to see a
patient, and is still, perhaps, reflecting on the case as he pauses with his
hand on the banister of the stair. The plate looks like an etching
from a picture, and there is, or was, in the Six collection a portrait of
Bonus in the same attitude painted by Rembrandt, on the same scale
as the etching.
The portrait of Jan Six is unquestionably Rembrandt's masterpiece In
the way of highly-finished shading, and was evidently executed with the
intention of carrying his art, for once, as far as was possible for him
In that special direction. For a hand like his, accustomed to the utmost
freedom, such success In patient labour may appear surprising, but it

42 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
has an exact parallel in the high finish of some of Rembrandt's paintings.
The interest of the plate is, however, by no means limited to its technical
excellence. It is a charming, and was In its own day also a new and
original, presentation of a cultivated gentleman in the privacy of his own
room. Tranquillity and sobriety in everything are here the dominant
notes. The subject appears quite unaware that he is watched, and reads,
as he thinks, in solitude, near his window, and so it is one of the most
unaffected of all portraits. I ought to add that the perfection of the
technical work can only be appreciated by consulting a fine impression.
The copper began to wear early and is now worthless for printing,
however interesting as a relic or a curiosity.
Jan Six, afterwards Burgomaster, was already, when portrayed by
Rembrandt, the author of a tragedy which gives its title to an etching
of the following year, Medea, or the Marriage of Jason and Creusa
(B. 112. M. 286.). It is rather a large plate but not otherwise worth
especial notice. The year 1648 also gives us the most important of all
the artist's beggar subjects. Three Beggars at the Door of a House
(B. 176. M. 287.), a brilhant etching, in which the search for full tone is
entirely abandoned, as there is no indication of local colour In the beggars,
and it is suggested only in the dress of the almsgiver in his doorway.
This plate is very neariy related to The Rat Killer (B. 121. M. 261.)
which is almost the same composition and has the same absence of local
colour. There is some relationship too between The Three Beggars and
The Three Oriental Figures (B. 118. M. 212.) who are also at the door
of a house. Judging by the sales of the Amand-Durand reproductions,
the etching of the Beggars comes third in modern popularity amongst all
the works of Rembrandt. A minor etching of the same year, A Jew's
Synagogue (B. 126. M. 288.), remarkably full of human character and
artistic effect, is executed precisely on the same principles. One of the
numerous St. Jerome subjects also belongs to this year, that is St. Jerome
writing, seated near a Large Tree (B. 103. M. 223.). Practical students
will notice that Rembrandt first etched his subject, and then, not being
satisfied, made some hurried and vigorous additions in pure dry point
which do not at all harmonise with the rest. This etching Is a good
specimen of the mighty master's autograph, but the tree is so predominant
that St. Jerome is little more than a landscape figurine. The most inter-

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 43
esting plate of 1648 is a very fine and very serious portrait of the artist
himself, Rembrandt Drawing (B. 22. M. 160.). The days are now gone
by when he dressed up for his own amusement and drew himself as
a study of costume. He has gone through sorrow, but what a firm,
strong, resolute face it is ! And he needs all his strength to face the evil
that lies before him.
There is no dated etching for the year 1649. -^ small sketch on
copper. The Bull (B. 253. M. 289.), was dated by Rembrandt, but the
last figure is lost. Mr. Middleton supplies its place with a 9, Vosmaer
with a o, Dutuit avows his Inability to make a guess. In reality it
is quite impossible to fix dates from Rembrandt's ever-varying styles.
It would be very interesting to know the exact date of the famous
"Hundred Guilder Print." Mr. Middleton assumes it to be 1649,
Vosmaer places it more vaguely at some date "about 1650," so does
Mr. Haden. M. Michel gives "about 1649." ^ myself venture no
further than to say, from technical evidence In the use of line and shade,
that the plate belongs to Rembrandt's ripe maturity.
Our certain dates for 1650 continue to illustrate the extreme variety
of Rembrandt's methods of work and the range of his Interest In things.
One day he sketches, in his roughest and most rapid manner, Jesus Christ
in the Midst of his Disciples (B. 89. M. 225.) and the next he sets himself
to imitate, with the utmost patience, a beautiful sea-shell of a pattern
presenting dark irregular reticulations. The Shell, or Damier (B. 159.
M. 290.). This is sometimes also called The Spotted Shell, but In
accurately, as the pattern is a sort of dark network upon a light ground.
The plate Is of the greatest interest as Rembrandt's most decided attempt
at pure and simple imitation, the model being chosen for its imitable
character, and it is curious to see the great artist humbly giving himself
this elementary lesson at the mature age of forty-three. At the same
time he continues his practical studies of landscape and picturesque
buildings, for example, in The Three Cottages (B. 217. M. 325.) and
A Village with a Square Tower (B. 218. M. 321.). He also likes variety
in the use of his tools, sometimes using etched, that is bitten, lines, and
sometimes the dry point. Some of the etchings and sketches appear to
afford evidence of travel. For example, there is a little landscape, other
wise unimportant. Landscape with a Canal and Swans (B. 235. M. 322.),

44

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

which according to Vosmaer resembles the hilly scenery about Cassel, and
the same authority saw in some picture or study a resemblance to the
scenery of Oldenbourg. In another small etching of the year 1650,
Landscape with a Canal and Large Boat (B. 236. M. 323.), the distance,
though not mountainous, shows hills for which the artist must have
wandered beyond the perfectly flat landscape of Holland. As to
Rembrandt's studies in landscape, Vosmaer observes that although he
began them early, his imagination did not take its flight until 1640 and
reached the sublime about ten years later. However, he was always

Landscape zcitk a Canal and Large Boat. B. 236. 71/. 32^

changing, and in 1651 we find him making an important landscape
etching, The Goldweighers Field (B. 234. M. 326), which has every
appearance of simple topography, the plain portraiture of a familiar
place. So, in the human figure he makes, in the same year, a most
prosaic little study of ugly nudities. The Bathers (B. 195. M. 292.), and
one of his most touching Biblical illustrations, Tobit Blind, -with the Dog
(B. 42. M. 226 ), a work in which the mental conception, which is most
pathetic, is everything, and the manual performance so simple, so devoid
of all pretension, that It requires some knowledge of etching to recognise
the strength of a master. I much prefer the Tobit Blind, even as a piece

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

45

of etching, to the black Flight into Egypt: a Night Effect (B. 53.
M. 227.) which was etched in the same year. There is a strong
resemblance, as to execution, between the Tobit and the dress of Clement
de Jonghe (B. 272. M. 164.) also belonging to 165 i, but the face of de
Jonghe Is carried much further and the quiet reflected light in the shadow

Tobit Blind, with the Dog. B.\2. M. 226.

of the hat is one of the best proofs of Rembrandt's complete mastery at
this time.
The year 1652 offers rather a repetition of former successes than
triumphs In any new variety of the art. The reader will understand that
it was becoming rather difficult for Rembrandt, at the age of forty-five,
and after at least twenty-four years of practice, to produce anything that

46

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

was not visibly rooted in his own past. The Jesus Disputing with the
Doctors; the Larger Plate (B. 65. M. 231.) is a masterly sketch like the
Tobit, in which the imaginative conception of the scene far predominates
over the simple handicraft. The David on his Knees (B. 41. M. 232.)
has more " colour " but is near akin to the Tobit in pathetic intensity of
sentiment. The reader may profitably compare it with official pictures
of great personages going through prayer as a public function.
King David is rather rudely drawn, and I will not undertake to defend

W

^^i "^7;, -n;

r ]r I

-•¦^^ll^.

^ ^<

fesus Disputing zcith the Doctors ; the Larger Phate. B. 65. 71/. 231.

r

the shading of his face, but he is thinking neither of crown nor harp,
his whole soul is with the God of Israel. A landscape with this year's
date is accurately called In the French catalogues, Le Bouquet de Bois
(Charles Blanc, 323, Dutuit 219), by Mr. Haden, A Landscape -with a
Vista, whilst Mr. Middleton calls it The J'lsta (B. 222. M. 328.). The
Italian word means either a prospect or an opening which gives the eye an
escape into the distance (in French une echappee) and It is in this latter
sense that the word is used in the English catalogues.^ The objection to
1 The plate might be called in English J Clump of Trees ¦zcith an Opening to the Right.
[f that is too long (it is not longer than many of the titles used for other etchings), J

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 47
Mr. Middleton's ritle is that the use of the Italian word by itself conveys
the notion of a wider prospect, or of a landscape in which the distance is
the chief thing.i Here, the etching Is blocked by a clump of trees with
an issue round the corner to the right. It is one of Rembrandt's finest
works in pure dry point. There is not a dry point in existence, by any
master, that shows a more
comprehensive and magisterial
style.

.,.v
VIII
The date 1653 is of
sinister importance In the life
of Rembrandt. He then began
to borrow money in large
sums. On the twenty-ninth
of January he gets a loan of
4,180 florins from Cornelis
Witsen, to be paid in a year.
On the fourteenth of March,
in the same year, he goes to
Isaak van Hertsbeeck for 4,200
florins and also promises to
pay in twelve months. He is
now rushing quickly down the
slope, the end of which is ruin.
As in most instances of a like nature several different causes were
operating together against him. They will be enumerated later.
There is only one etching certainly of this year but it Is of
capital size and importance, Christ Crucified between Two Thieves;
otherwise known as The Three Crosses (B. 78. M. 235.). This magnificent
Wood Side would distinguish the work sufficiently and be more descriptive than The
Vista, which one has to seek for.
¦ 1 An excellent example ot a vista in the sense of une echappee, may be seen in The
Flight into Egypt, called 'In the Style of Elzhcimer,' [B. 56. 71/. 236), where everything
leads the eye to a lovely distance in an opening bct\vccn the richest and densest masses
of foliage, not a sneaking outlet on one side, like a servants' gate in a garden.

Dai'id en It.

48 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
etching is in Rembrandt's broad and rapid manner, it is a linear sketch
with masses of shading, the whole being far too quickly executed for any
accuracy of form. We must take the work synthetically, as a whole,
and not apply any detailed criticism. Rembrandt's sense of the grandeur
of Christ has led him to give an exaggerated height to the body on
the cross which, if we judge by the foreground figures, must at its
own distance measure twelve or fourteen feet. The lighting is both
supernatural and unnatural, but extremely effective. Our sense of its
wonder and sublimity is perhaps diminished by our familiarity with the
electric light, which gives similar effects of intense fan-shaped illumination
whilst leaving outside things in darkness.
The Descent from the Cross: a Night Piece (B. 83. M. 242.) is
called in the French catalogues the "Descent by Torchlight" which
distinguishes it better from the great Descent from the Cross, where
the lighting is supernatural. Both in conception and execution this
is one of the most vigorous etchings of 1654. Its technical principles
are the same as those of The Three Crosses, that is, organic lines with
shade thrown over them, and with massive shade elsewhere in the plate.
The idea is not so like that of a picturesque sculptor as the lofty group
of the great Descent from the Cross, and this seems preferable in an
etching. The Flight into Egypt is one of Rembrandt's favourite subjects, and
he treated it in the most various ways, at one time placing the Holy
Family in a magnificent landscape, more Italian than Oriental, and at
others in viewless nooks. The Flight into Egypt, the Holy Family
crossing a Rill (B. sS- M. 240.) is of no particular locality, but we
may suppose that the fugitive travellers have not yet escaped from
Palestine and are crossing one of its brooks. This Is one of the best of
Rembrandt's small sketch plates in which an entire subject is indicated
with little labour both in form and light and shade. The technical
work, with a less display of power, is the same as that of the last plate
we have been considering. The date is 1654. An excellent sketch plate
of the same year, but in which line is somewhat more important and
shade less, is^ Jesus and his Parents returning from Jerusalem (B. 60.
M. 244.). The attitudes are most natural, the grandeur of the scenery
seems to confirm the belief that Rembrandt must have travelled out of

THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS: J NIGHT PIECE.
D. 83. il/. 242.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 51
Holland. Another of his favourite subjects was Christ and the Disciples
at Emmaus (B. 87. M. 237.) of which we have a new version in 1654
It is a slight and rapid sketch, finely composed, but open to the obvious
objection that if the disciples had prepared a stately seat under a canopy
for their Master they must have known beforehand who He was,
whereas St. Luke says He was revealed to them only after breaking bread.
The nimbus is more defensible, for it may be explained as a sudden
effulgence that astonishes even the innkeeper (or cook) who is descending

Th?e Fhigh?t into Eg\pt, the Hohf Famihy crossing a Rihh. B. 55. M. 240.

the stairs. A still more striking interpretation of the same subject is a
drawing by Rembrandt of which the reader will find an effective etching
in Blanc's catalogue. The figure of the Master is entirely absent from
this composition; we see only the empty chair from which he has just
vanished. Jesus Disputing with the Doctors is one of the most interesting
subjects for pictorial treatment in the New Testament, and we find
Rembrandt recurring to it again In 1654 In a small plate (B. 64
M. 245.) The attitudes, no doubt, are very natural, but I may be

E 2

52 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
excused for preferring the conception of the boy Jesus in the larger
plate, and also the placing of the other figures which seems to me more
artistic. IX
The close of the year 1654 is marked by another step on the down
ward path, for in the month of December Rembrandt appears before the
sheriffs because he owes Interest amounting to more than fifty-two florins

tr.'.'ssii

fesus and hns Parents returning from feruuihem. B. 60. 71/. 244..

on account of 1168 florins borrowed on mortgage, the security being his
house in the Breedstraat. A portrait etched In 1655 has an Interest
connected with Rembrandt's affairs. It Is that of Thomas Jacobsz
Hdving (B. 275, M. 169.) of whom, as a man of business, we shall hear
more presently. The portrait is of a grave character, which is enhanced
by a rich dark background resembling that of Jan Six, but of a coarser
texture. Like the Six, it is obviously a study In darks. Abraham's
Sacrifice (B. 35. M. 246.) is technically in the manner of The Three
Crosses and The Descent from the Cross by Torchlight, and by its grandeur
and originality of invention and composition miy well take rank as one

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

53

of Rembrandt's finest plates. Christ before Pilate (B. 76. M, 248.),
which is more descriptively named in the French catalogues as Jesus

Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus. B.8j. M. 237.

Christ presente au Peuple, is a very large plate, boldly sketched,
representing a court in Pilate's palace where he shows Jesus to the people

54

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

on a

raised platform. There is some very grand and powerful linear
sketching in this plate, having the characteristics of the etched line in all

Abraham's Sacrifice. B. 35. M. 246.

Its Strength, but it seems certain that Rembrandt Intended to shade a
good deal over it, a process already begun in the building to the left.

THE ETCHTNGS OF REMBRANDT 55

X
In 1656 Rembrandt's affairs were in such a bad position that he
transferred his house and land to his son Titus, then a minor of fifteen.
However, with the consent of Saskia's relations, he is still to have charge
of the property.
This was in the month of May, but the arrangement left the
unfortunate artist little respite, for he was declared insolvent In July, all
his possessions seized, and an inventory made of them by order of the
Court of Bankruptcy.
These miseries do not prevent Rembrandt from etching one of his
finest portraits, that of Johannes Lutma (B. 276. M. 171.), a most
powerful and characteristic study, both of face and figure. The reader
ought to see a fine Impression of the first state.
Abraham entertaining Angels (B. 29. M. 250.) is In some respects an
unfortunate attempt. The manual execution, for a sketch on copper,
leaves nothing to be desired, but the conception of the scene is too
matter-of-fact. For God and the Angels Rembrandt has given us simply
Dutch burghers enjoying themselves at table, in a garden. It was
Wilson who first observed that the old man with the wine-glass is not
Abraham but God the Father, or according to some theologians, God the
Son. The patriarch himself is humbly serving his guests and sits to
the right, holding a ewer.
There is just one plate for 1657, St. Francis Praying (B. 107.
M. 252.), of considerable importance as to size and of great technical
interest. M Dutuit decidedly calls it one of Rembrandt's best works,
and praises, as admirable, the patches of bur raised by the dry point.
I see, of course, much manual power in this performance, and the figure
of the saint expresses devotion well, but the plate Is technically all out of
tune. This may perhaps be attributed to the terrible trial through which
Rembrandt was now passing.

56 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
XI
Thomas Jacobsz Haring, whose portrait Rembrandt had etched and
whose grave face will thus be known to future generations so long as
human beings continue to take any interest in the fine arts, was appointed
by the Commissioners In bankruptcy to sell Rembrandt's goods. This
first sale, however, which took place towards the end of 1657, did not
include more than a part of the prints and drawings in the artist's
collection. These were sold In September, 1658, at the same place, the
Imperial Crown Hotel, kept by one Schuurman, who little knew the
future value of what his house then temporarily contained. In February
of the same year Rembrandt's mansion had been sold for 11,218 florins,
its Indescribably precious contents fetching about 5,000 florins, sums that
went to his creditors and to the trustees of the interests of Titus, as his
mother's heir, Rembrandt himself being left absolutely penniless at the
age of fifty-one and severed from all the treasures of art In which he had
taken delight.
Little remains to be said about the dated etchings. In 1658 the
great etcher recurs to the interesting subject of Jesus and the Samaritan
Woman (B, 70. M. 253.), a pleasant, harmonious plate with a distance
reminding us (not In execution) of Diirer. There are also several studies
of the nude, of no beauty, except a little perhaps in the recumbent figure
of A Negress lying on a Couch (B. 205. M. 300.). In 1659 we have
Antiope and Jupiter (B. 203. M. 301.), a composition that seems inspired
by an Italian influence, probably that of Titian, whose genius the subject
would have suited better. Even Rembrandt's etching is not without a
suggestion of beauty distantly imagined, yet unattained. In the year
1 66 1 he etched The Woman with an Arrow (B. 202. M. 302.), a naked
figure seated on the edge of a bed, holding an arrow in her right hand,
and turning her back to the spectator. This is one of those examples in
which a work tells powerfully and effectively as a whole though it may
be criticised in some part, even in a principal part. One might say, with
truth, that the figure is still very Inferior to the best Italian or even
French drawing, yet the plate, as a whole, is fine because the figure is
made to harmonise so perfectly with its well-invented surroundings.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 57
It is impossible to prove that Rembrandt etched anything after this,
but he did not die till October 1669.
His son Titus had died thirteen months before him at the age of
twenty-six, leaving a posthumous daughter, Titla. Her mother died
less than three weeks after Rembrandt.
Vosmaer thought he had found satisfactory evidence that Rembrandt
lived comfortably In his latter years, and in a good house on the
Rozengracht, or Canal of Roses, which he says was not at all a poor
quarter, only a little out of the way.^ The ingenious Dutch biographer
of Rembrandt also founds what appears to be a powerful argument on
the merry looks of The Laughing Portrait, a picture that formerly
belonged to M. Leopold Double, who kindly lent it to us for the

^ The passage in Vosmaer's biography is so interesting that the reader may thank
me for translating it.
" One day I went hunting about the Rozengracht to see if there were no traces of
Rembrandt's last dwelling, no longer known. In front of what was formerly the site
of the old Doolhof on the north side, I noticed two fronts in an old style with shields
dated 1652. Now, it was about 1656 that Rembrandt went to live on this quay On
the ground-floor of one of these houses is the studio of M. Stracke, a sculptor. As soon
as I entered and looked about me I was struck by a resemblance. Rembrandt had made
a sketch of an entrance, probably in his own house. Through the doorway the drawing
shows an entrance with two windows and an open door, and through these the foliage ot
a tree, a quay, and the fronts of houses across the canal. I found myself in the same
place ! M. Stracke had the kindness to show me the whole house, and its present state
made the past intelligible. The wooden floor that separated the cellars from the ground-
floor is gone, but the brackets are still visible on which rested the ends of the beams.
There are two rooms on the first floor ; that which looks out upon the quay once had
a beautiful chimney-piece, and the walls are still covered with painted tiles, but they
are now hidden under a modern wall-paper. Another room that may very well have
served as a studio, is behind, and has three windows with a northern aspect. The owner
told the present tenant that the building was formerly so rich in marbles that the value
of them was equal to the price given for the whole house, even a pathway leading to
some out-buildings was paved with marble, and still at the present day the kitchen floor
is in marble from the quarries of Carrara !
" There is a drawing in the British Museum which was evidently made from the
room with three windows in this house of the Rozengracht : it represents a studio, the
three windows have small panes and look out upon a roof; on a table before one of the
windows is an object that may be a board or a portfolio.
" It is evident that in Rembrandt's time the house cannot have had the aspect of a
poor place of refuge, where he had gone to live in destitution." Vosmaer's " Rembrandt,
sa Vie et ses (Euvres." Chap. XXXIX.

58 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
Portfolio. The reader will find the etching from it by Flameng in the
Portfolio for January 1872. So far as we are able to ascertain, this is
the last piece of self-portraiture that Rembrandt ever made, and the
last we see of his honest face is jocund as the spring 1 Let us keep this
cheering impression of the hard-working artist, the uncomplaining,
practical philosopher!
Rembrandt was laid in his grave on the 8th of October 1669,
at the age of sixty-two, having laboured incessantly at his vocation, as
pupil, or master, about forty-nine years.

PART II
THE GENIUS AND CULTURE OF THE MASTER.

%^:f%¦

An Old Man ivitl} a Sliort
Straight Beard. B. 306.
M. 120.

I
Though Rembrandt is a predecessor very diffi
cult to approach in his own lines of work, it
does not seem that his nature is hard to under
stand. It was a sound and simple nature
with straightforward impulses and strong gifts.
Amongst the supreme artists of the world no
one had the graphic Instinct and endowment
more peculiarly and exclusively. Michael Angelo
could turn aside from his painting and drawing
to carve a statue or build a cathedral; Raphael,
besides being painter and decorator, had the
sense of construction so well developed as to be a competent, practical
architect In the style of the Renaissance; Leonardo da Vinci was con
structive, both as architect and engineer, besides having the acumen of
a discoverer in science; Rubens had brilliant social and linguistic gifts,
but Rembrandt was turned aside from his graphic occupations by
none of these talents or tastes. He was, indeed, a lover of variety,
he liked to refresh his Intellect by change, but he found such variety
as he needed in the graphic arts themselves, without seeking it out
side of them. Though essentially a painter in oil colours, he was also
a draughtsman in the most various materials, and he treated etching
in such different ways as to divide it into five or six different arts.
Rembrandt was not entirely without literary instruction. He was
sent, according to Orlers, to a Latin school with the intention of

6o THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
preparing him for the classical Academy of Leyden, " so that by his
acquirements he might in due time serve the city and the Republic."
We know from the same authority that Harmen's little son disliked his
Latin studies, and may safely infer that his success in them was small.
Still, the effect of this early schooling was not entirely negative, as
in after life Rembrandt wrote letters in his own language of which
Vosmaer gives a few in his biography, adding the remark that " any one
at all versed in the epistolary style of that age in Holland, will see that
these letters come from a cultivated man."
It is possible to have a sense of culture without much scholarly
attainment, and the truest description of Rembrandt Is to say that he
was educated but not learned. He possessed a certain number of
volumes, of which those specially mentioned in the inventory of his
effects (when he became insolvent) are, with the exception of an old
Bible, either books entirely made up of drawings or engravings or else,
like his Josephus, illustrated. " Fifteen volumes of various sizes " are
mentioned without separate designation, and it has been assumed that
they were books to read, but some of them may have been purchased,
like the rest, for their engravings. All this amounts to conclusive
evidence that Rembrandt had not a scholarly or a literary turn of mind,
for he lived in what was then, as it is still, an eminently learned little
country. The evidence seems all the more convincing when we reflect
that Rembrandt was an extravagant man and that he had the peculiar
form of extravagance which does not consist in ostentation In style of
living but in purchasing what one desires to possess. Such a man, If he
had cared for books, would have collected a magnificent library. If,
however, any reader feels inclined to accuse Rembrandt of Philistinism,
let me say in his defence that he was not more Philistine with regard to
literature than most people in our educated classes are with regard to art.
If he bought only fifteen books, have we not many gentlemen and
scholars who have not bought fifteen portfolios of original etchings or
engravings.? The essence of Philistinism lies in insensibility to the
Influences of genius and in unawakened observation. On these two
points the evidence in Rembrandt's favour is overwhelming. His
collections prove conclusively that he delighted in the works of other
artists, for which he competed enthusiastically and beyond all prudence

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 61
in the auction-room, whilst as to the observation of nature, his own
works are still with us to testify like a multitude of living witnesses.
Rembrandt is the representative of the graphic intellect which notices.
Imitates, and remembers the forms of things, yet does not stop at the
form but perceives that all shapes are significant. The scholarly Intellect
substitutes words for things and proper names for personalities, after
which it deals with these substitutes as financiers deal with figures.
The graphic intellect has its own processes of substitution of which
Rembrandt's etchings afford many curious and Interesting examples, but
the visible forms of nature, though often noted in a sketcher's shorthand,
are never lost sight of or forgotten.
"In the mind of such a man," said, the elder Leslie, "the immense
amount of knowledge accumulated by close and silent observation, know
ledge of a kind not to be communicated by words, is something wholly
Inconceivable to the learned merely in books ; and if their reading has
opened to them a world from which he is shut out, he also lives in a
world of his own, equally Interesting, the wisdom and enjoyment of
which his pencil Is constantly employed in communicating to all who
have eyes for the sublime aspects of nature, and hearts fitted to receive
such impressions through their eyes."
I believe that Rembrandt was as safely guided by his Instincts in his
abstinence from certain pursuits as in the zealous industry with which he
addicted himself to others. The dictionary tells us that "the humanities,"
in the plural, are " the branches of polite or elegant learning, as language,
grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and the study of the ancient classics." But
surely if any works in the world belong essentially to the " humanities "
they are the works of Rembrandt himself, for no one has ever shown a
profounder or a more catholic interest in man. Both the limits of this
essay, and its special subject, forbid me to range at will over all the fields
of Rembrandt's art, but in the one field that is open to me I find ample
proof of the most catholic human sympathies, and it may be for this reason
that whilst we admire the skill or culture of some artists (as, for example,
the stern self-discipline of Ingres imposes itself on our respect) we do not
admire Rembrandt merely, but it seems to us that we iiave known him
personally and that we keep the memory of him fresh and green in our
affections. Let us remember, too, that his interest in humanity was

62 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
unfeigned, that it did not express itself merely in pictures that he might
hope to sell, but in hundreds of memoranda done evidently for himself
and out of pure love of his subjects and pleasure in the constant practice
of his art. Even the etchings, which might legitimately have been a
source of Income, were unprofitable in the artist's life-time. The famous
Hundred Guilder Print Is not believed to have brought Rembrandt that
number of coined guilders, he only exchanged a proof of it for some
engravings by Marcantonio which the dealer who offered them chose to
value at that sum. Vosmaer says that the time and trouble he gave to

^f y- /» I'
•t^. it ^

A Sheet of Shicteh^es, .ifterzoards divided into Five. B. 366. M. S3.

his etched portraits were certainly not remunerated. We cannot affirm
that more than two ot the etchings were sold by the trade, the others
were kept for presents or exchanges, or disposed of occasionally by the
artist. It is clear, I think, from the etchings themselves that they cannot
have been in any sense a mercantile speculation, with the exception of a
very few plates, principally of large dimensions. The great majority are
simply an artist's expression of his own mind, many are simply memo
randa, like A Sheet of Sketches, afterwards divided into Five (B. 366.
M. 83.), all may be taken as faithful reflections, during at least thirty-

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 63
three years, of Rembrandt's varying interests in human life, in landscape,
and in the technical resources of etching itself. I propose to consider
life and landscape in this Part and to reserve technical matters for the
next.

II
The very earliest stage of human existence Is generally more attractive
to the feminine than to the masculine mind. It was not entirely neglected
by Rembrandt, but he does not appear to have taken any very lively
interest in infancy by Itself, the charm of it, to him, was in its dependence
upon parental love. If the reader is able to refer to a plate called
Academical Figures of Two Men (B. 194. M. 280.) he will see in the back
ground a slight and pale sketch of an entirely different subject, a child In a
go-cart encouraged by an old woman. This little scene of infantine life Is
charmingly imagined, but Rembrandt valued it so little that he used the
same plate for a commonplace study of the nude. Other works^ prove
that Rembrandt was not indifferent to babies, but it was the affection of
parents that interested him most, an affection touchingly expressed in the
attitude of the Virgin in The Holy Family with the Serpent (B. 63.
M. 241.) where she is bending over the child so lovingly and laying her
cheek to his. So in Abraham caressing Isaac (B. 33. M. 203.) the
patriarch caresses the boy's face very tenderly and the boy is happy to be
there between the paternal knees. Rembrandt had himself lost children
in their infancy and could sympathise with all parental feeling, as when he
etched Jacob lamenting the supposed Death of Joseph (B. 38. M. 189.) and
the affecting plate of The Virgin mourning the Death of Jesus (B. 85.
M. 202.).
The peasant children in Rembrandt's etchings are far from being
attractive little creatures, and it is probably not a loss that we are unable
to see those in the dark plate of The Schoolmaster. Nor Is the child in
1- There is a delightful little sketch of a sleeping child in the possession of Sir
Frederick Leighton, reproduced in M. Michel's book on Rembrandt, and the reader will
find in the same volume a family picture from the Brunswick Gallery, in which are three
little children that appear both graceful and good-tempered. A very touching sketch,
anticipating a well-known English picture, represents a widower gently trying to feed
his baby, that appears to be unresponsive.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

the Three Peasants Travelling (B. 131. M. 153.) a promising specimen
of his race. It cannot be said that the etchings prove any delight in the
beauty of young children Even when we follow the models to maturity
we do not often meet with any grace or elegance, quite a rare and
exceptional instance being the figure of the young man in Youth Surprised
by Death. The etchings in which Rembrandt attempted to represent the
naked figure at its best time, for example the Academical Figures of T-wo
Men (B. 194. M. 280.), are the most matter-of-fact interpretations
without any sensitiveness to the beauty of the body or any evidence of
the instinct which disengages a latent elegance that nature obscurely
suggests. Closely connected with
this indifference to the corporal beauty
of youth, is the inability to conceive
or express voluptuousness, of which
there is never any trace in the works
of Rembrandt. I am aware, of
course, that three or four of his
etchings represent certain actions that
belong to the animal nature of man,
but they are completely severed from
everything that is seductive or
poetical in form or motion. The
plastic and graphic arts have often,
like poetry, made it their business to
idealise physical passion, and this may
be done successfully by associating
It with beauty of form and tenderness of sentiment. ^ There is nothing
of this refinement in Rembrandt. He cannot approach a certain side of
1 The classical painter, David, a most severely-disciplined artist, once painted Cupid
and Psyche so as to tell all that painting ought to tell ot youth, and bcautv, and love
and he did it with an art so delicate that it is impossible to rcpro\-e him. Shellcv had
the same delicacy, as for example in his Epithalamium and in his little Italian poem
containing the stanza : —
" Solinga, scura, cupa, senza spemc,
La notte quando Lilla m'abbandona :
Pei cuori che si batton insiemc
Ogni notte, senza dirla, sara buona,"

Titrcc Pcaiaf.li Travdling. B. 131. M. 153.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

'^5

nature without grossness and therefore keeps habitually away from It
as if warned by a consciousness of deficiency. There are, indeed, two
deficiencies in Rembrandt with regard to this, his lack of Ideality and the
Insufficiency of his classical culture.
It might be argued that Rembrandt drew the body with the same
veracity as the hands and face, and that our criticism betrays a want
of consistency In ourselves, since we approve of truth in the representation
of the features and object to it in the trunk or limbs. Certainly
Rembrandt never palliated plainness, he described even the ugliness
of his own nose (B. 4. M. 42.), but whenever the human face is in
question there may always be a ready and ample compensation for the
lack of beauty in the presence of intellect and character, or, if these
are wanting, in pathos. It is a sign of gentle feeling in a young man
to take a respectful interest in age. Rem
brandt began early in life to write on
copper his own immortal treatise de
Senec tute. His strength lay in his respect
for the wisdom of maturity and the dignity
of declining years. His best portraits
always represent either grave and learned
men like Ephraim Bonus and Cornelius
Sylvius, or old men like Jacob Haring
(B. 274. M. 168.), one of his finest works.
No author ever described more gently than
Rembrandt has done in that portrait the
slow approaches of senility. Some of
the most interesting heads of old men
are without names, and all we know is that they once existed. Rembrandt
seems to have taken an interest in them for the most various reasons.
Their hair and beards, if luxuriant, were delightful to etch, but baldness
interested the arrist also, and we find several studies of bald men, like this
one called a Profile of a Bald Man with a Jewelled Chain (B. 292.
M. 39.).! He amused himself by noting the yarlous stages and degrees
1 It is the first state that shows the chain of the order, the second state is altered,
and the third shows heavy additional work, which M. Dutuit supposes to have been
added by another hand.

ProfiiL of a Bald .Al.tn int/i a
Jcmilcd C/ialn. B. 29;. M. 39.

66

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

sfWW'^j'';

of baldness, for example, it is incipient in the little etching called by
M. Dutuit Tele a demi chauve^ (B. 296. M. 95.), whilst it is lamentably
complete in another little etching. Bust of a Bald Man, leaning forzvard
to the Right with his Mouth open (B. 298. M. 56.). We know from
many pictures and etchings that Rembrandt fully appreciated a fine beard,
yet he could turn aside to note the poverty of a thin stubbly one as well
as cranial nudity in An Old Man with a Short Straight Beard; a Profile
to the Right (B. 306. M. 120.), reproduced on p. 59.
Amongst all Rembrandt's numerous studies of old age, I know of
none more observantly truthful than the delightful little etching of
An Old Woman Sleeping (B. 350. M. 116.).
This seems to have been long a popular
plate, as it has been often copied, once
by Andrew Geddes. I do not know any
work by the master that contains so much
of his human sympathy and such abundant
evidence of observation on so small a scale.
The old lady, comfortably as well as pic
turesquely clothed, has been reading her
Bible and has been surprised by a sudden
need of sleep, her head resting on one
hand, the spectacles, no longer wanted, on
the other. As a study, the little etching
could not have been carried further. It re
minds me of Leslie's opinion that " the pre
valent tone of Rembrandt's mind, as shown m his art, is serenity. Where
the subject allows him, his natural disposition seems always tranquil,
and though serious, yet the very reverse of gloomy. He Is the painter
(if repose, as Rubens is the painter of action." Rembrandt sometimes
attempted violent action, as in the three rapidly executed sketch plates
of Hon hunts,'- and it seemed to be a usual coincidence in his sketchintr

J-//; Old troiitan Stooping. B. 350.
/!/, 116.

>¦ I give a French title for once, as it is much more accurate than Mr. Middleton's,
"Head of a Bald Old Man, inclined to the Left." The man is not old, his hair is still
dark, and he is scarcely bald, as it is only thinning at the top.
" The large one (B. 114. M. 272.) has been already mentioned. The two smaller
ones are etched in the same violently vigorous style for composition and action only, form

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

67

that when the subject was connected with energetic action the handling
was bold, quick, and decided, concerning itself as little about a multitude
of minor truths as a war-horse thinks of the field-mice beneath its feet.
The reader may accept A Battle Piece (B. 117. M. 275.) as an expression
of a temper which sometimes, but rarely, manifested Itself In the works
of Rembrandt. What he felt to be most In harmony with his own
nature was quiet thought or peaceful and deliberate occupation. 1

A Battle Piece. B.W]. 71/. 275.
should say, for instance, that the beautiful, lightly sketched Old Man
resting his Hands upon a Book (B. 147. M. 156.) well represents the
quiet thought, whilst the .S'/«if«/ zw his Chamber (B. 148. M. 276.) and
St Jerome; in Rembrandts dark manner (B. 105. M. 214.) represent the
solitary work or study which the artist, though not himself a bookish
man, could still appreciate and understand.
being of necessity sacrificed, as the shapes of letters are in the swiftest writing (B. 1 1 5
M. 273.) (B. 116. M 274.).

F 2

68 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

III
Some artists have an aristocratic turn by nature, as Rubens, Vandyke,
Reynolds; others are naturally plebeian like Ostade, as in literature we
have our genteel novelists who always introduce us to gentlefolks, and
our plebeian or middle-class novelists who pride themselves on an intimate
knowledge of the people. If it were asked to which category Rem
brandt belonged, the right answer would be that he was too great
to be either enviously hostile to the wealthy or contemptuous towards
the poor. One of the imputations currently received against him was a
taste for low society; the class he habitually lived in was that which
follows the learned or the artistic professions ; most of his friends were
doctors, lawyers, clergymen, or painters and etchers like himself. He
was not a tuft-hunter; he did not run after great folks. Having work
enough in his art he sought only recreation in society, and expressed his
taste in words that have become immortal. " Als Ik mijn geest
uitspanninge wil geven, dan is bet niet eer die Ik zoek, maar vrijheld."
" When I wish to give rest to my mind, it is not honours that I seek,
but liberty." A life divided between hard work and perfect ease left no
room for that mysterious art of social advancement which has been for
many a painter the secret of success.

IV
If Rembrandt was neither aristocratic nor democratic, ought we to
say that he was religious .? No one can deny that he was a most suc
cessful illustrator of the Old and New Testaments, not to mention the
Apocrypha. Here he is a strong competitor with Raphael and Michael
Angelo, though on principles the opposite of theirs. Whilst they
endeavoured to idealise prophets and apostles, and to rise even to the
representation of Divinity, Rembrandt had a clear vision of all religious
personages as human beings. One of his compositions is called the
"Ecce Homo." In a certain sense the title is applicable to them all.
Even God the Father, in Abraham entertaining the Angels, is represented

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 69
as an amiable human friend who appreciates a glass of wine. Chri'^t, In
the Hundred Guilder and many another print, is the Son of Man \vho
sympathises with suffering in others or endures it patiently himself
When Christ is preaching, as in the etching known as La Tonibe (B. 67.
M. 229.), Rembrandt no more despises the humble listeners than did

(}tm(jfu.r)/.

Chirist's Body carried to the Tomb. B. 84. 71/. 217.

the Teacher who addressed them. When the voice is silenced, a pathetic
little group beais the body, tortured no longer, to Its quiet resting-place.
This scene is represented in a little etching, Christs Body carried to the
Tomb (B. 84. M. 217.), In which the simple-hearted, affectionate followers
are unconscious that theirs is the grandest fimeral procession of all time.

70 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

V
In judging Rembrandt as a etcher of landscape we ought to bear in
mind two considerations, first, that landscape was quite a secondary
pursuit for him ; and, next, that he was situated in a country where the
grander manifestations of natural glory in landscape are unknown. It Is
supposed that he may have visited some hilly, but not mountainous,
district in Germany, and It has been affirmed, on very insufficient evidence,
that he knew the neighbourhood of Hull. However this may be,
Rembrandt had not a tithe of the landscape experience of Titian, nor a
hundredth part of the opportunities of Turner. He knew nothing of
Scotland, France, Switzerland, or Italy. He was deprived of at least
half the materials accessible to him by his complete Indifference to, and
corresponding ignorance of, the sea. Neither had he Claude's exquisite
sense of the richness of Inland landscape. Add to this the peculiar limita
tions of the art of etching which are not favourable to those delicate distinc
tions of tone on which all the most impressive effects of distant landscape
must depend. The consequences are, first, confinement to simple and
homely subjects, and, secondly, great simplicity in the treatment of those
subjects. And yet, notwithstanding these limitations, we all look upon
Rembrandt as a master, even of landscape. The reason for this may be
expressed in a single phrase, his powerful expression of character. If he
does not attempt to imitate the exact forms of a scene, or the tones of an
effect, he shows you the nature ofthe place at the first glance and makes
you feel as if you were there. No delineation of landscape was ever more
penetrating or more comprehensive. Take, for instance, the Landscape
with a Ruined Tower and a Clear Foreground (B. 223. M. 317.) and see
how everything about the place is either explained or suggested. We
have the rural village with Its old church, and houses, and haystacks, and
its gloomy wood, and the road that passes by. At the same time we are
made to feel that it is in the open country, and an effect of stormy
weather is suggested in dark distance and threatening sky, without any
attempt at imitation. Nothing more, in the way of impression, could be
communicated without colour. Essentially the same landscape In

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 71
principle is the one called by Mr. Middleton An Arched Landscape with
a Flock of Sheep (B. 224. M. 319).^
Here, too, we have an open foreground, the chief interest of the
subject, as before, being in a mass of trees and a hay barn that occupy the
middle distance, leaving an outlet to the left. I recommend the student
to familiarise himself with the workmanship of this plate, because so many
small landscape etchings have been attributed to Rembrandt that it is well
to have in the memory a good type of his landscape executed on a small
scale. For the same reason I mention A Village with a Square Tower ;
an Arched Plate (B. 218. M. 321.) and the Landscape with an Obelisk
(B. 227. M. 324). There Is also a small landscape that may be easily
overlooked, but which has Its own importance. An Orchard with a Barn
(B. 230. M. 316.) These plates, notwithstanding their limited dimen
sions, are executed In as strong and simple a style as, for example, the
Landscape with a Ruined Tower and a Clear Foreground i^. I'l'i,. M. 317.),
whereas many little plates attributed to Rembrandt are weak and rather
pretty, or not pretty at all but still weak, both in conception and in
style. On looking back over the landscapes I observe the following chief
characteristics. First, a strong sense of the picturesque in foreground
material as in the Village with a River and a Sailing Vessel (B. 228.
M. 314.), next, in several plates, a disposition to throw the interest into
the middle distance and sacrifice the foreground (see Landscape with
Ruined Tower, &c.) ; lastly, a lively sense of the charm of a remote
distance, as in the lovely outlook to the left in A Large Landscape with
a Dutch Hay Barn (B. 225. M. 306.) and other instances. It is
surprising that after the magnificent note of transient effect in The Three
Trees, where the grandeur and motion of a sky are perfectly suggested,
Rembrandt should not have attempted to etch other skies, but that
remains alone with the single exception of the threatening weather in the
sublime olate of The Ruined Tower. The inference is that Rembrandt
1.
was by no means indifferent to the impressiveness of skies in nature, but
' The French critics entitle the same plate La Grange a Foin or La Grange a Foin et
le Troupeau; Mr. Middleton's title seems to attract too much attention to the sheep
vvhich do not strike the eye at the first glance. His word "arched" helps to distinguish
the plate well-

72

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

was dissatisfied with their rudely linear interpretation in etching, as he
practised the art. His knowledge of water appears to have been
extremely limited, a mere nothing in comparison with that attained by
modern landscape-painters. Rembrandt sometimes indicated the presence
of water, but that was all ; he never attempted to etch a wave, his study
of reflections was rudimentary, the best Instance being A Cottage -with
White Pales (B. 232. M. 308.). He was strongest in picturesque
buildings and next to that in trees, though his merit as an etcher of trees
lies principally in his fine sense of mass, for he does not seem to have had
any extensive knowledge of species. Altogether, Rembrandt was a
landscape etcher of great power, because he was such a forcible artist
before he approached landscape, but, though he proved this in a few
superb plates, his acquaintance with nature was most limited. He has,
however, exercised a great technical influence on landscape etching and
through it on modern pen-drawing and landscape illustration generally.
Besides, It would be unfair to judge of Rembrandt's studies in landscape
from his work on copper alone, as there exist many sketches by him in
other materials.

VI
Rembrandt took but little Interest In animals, which occur very
rarely in his etchings, and the most finished of these representations.
The Little Dog Sleeping (B. 158. M. 267.), Is
probably by another hand. There is another
Sketch of a Dog (B. 371. M. 266.) in the
corner of a plate of which the rest \yas left
vacant; it is good, and evidently authentic.
For the heraldic Hon in St. Jerome Sitting at
the Foot of a Tree (B. 100. M. 190.) I do not
hold Rembrandt responsible, nor for the ass in
The Flight into Egypt; a Small Spright Print
(B. 52. M. 184.). He is, however, answer
able for the wild beasts in the large and lesser
Lion Hunts, which have energetic motion but are poor m size and shape
(compare these wild-cats with the bronzes of Barye), and for the ass in

Sketolt of a Dog. B. 371. M. i66.

=q

o<

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 75
The Flight into Egypt; the Holy Family crossing a Rill (B. 55. M. 240.),
which has the genuine asinine character and action.^ This does not
amount to evidence that Rembrandt had the love of domesticated
animals that distinguished Paul Potter. Where, in the etchings, are
his sheep .'' Where are his cattle or farm-horses, either in harness or at
liberty in the fields.'' For an artist with Rembrandt's power of drav/incr,
his attention to animal life seems strangely rare and languid in its
interest, as It is Impossible that he can have been turned aside from
it by any consciousness of technical inability.

VII
The artistic personality we have been studying is one of great range
and mighty energy, yet far from being universal. It is marked by a
strong preference of maturity to youth and by an unfailing Interest in
age. Full of the most intense and pathetic human sympathy, even Its
religion is a " religion of humanity." It is Indifferent to the division of
mankind into patrician and plebeian classes, but not Indifferent to the
signs of culture and of thought. Its sense of beauty is picturesque
rather than plastic, and attaches itself to effect rather than to form. It
strongly prefers costume to nudity. It seeks refreshment and consolation
In homely landscape, yet has some appreciation of grander and more
romantic scenery. It pays a slight occasional attention to animals.
With remarkable and rare powers of memory, invention, and manual
execution, it is without any sure guidance in a cultivated taste, and re
mains therefore at all times liable to such errors as the Adam and Eve or
the Woman sitting upon a Hillock (B. 198. M. 256.), whilst the only
attempt at decorative monumental arrangement. An Allegorical Piece
(B. IIO. M- 296.), is top-heavy, straggling, and out of all reasonable
proportions. 1 I am not forgetting some studies ot animals (particularly a lion and an elephant)
outside of Rembrandt's etched work, to which, at present, I am obliged as much as
possible to confine my attention.

PART III
TECHNICAL NOTES
I
The reader is already aware that modern criticism does not admit
the whole of the etched work formerly attributed to Rembrandt as
genuine. The result of certain inquiries has been, briefly, this, that we cannot
any longer accept with blind confidence any work whatever that is
attributed to Rembrandt, with signature or without signature, dated or
undated. We find ourselves, therefore, in a situation from which there is no
logical issue, as we can only test the spurious plates by a comparison with
the genuine ones, but, to know which are the genuine ones, we must
have already distinguished them from the spurious, so that, in order
to make the selection, we, in fact, must have already made it.
The biographical test, in Rembrandt's case, is hardly available, as
there is so little documentary evidence. There was no zealou5>
contemporary to make an accurate catalogue in the artist's life-time,
as Sir Francis Drake did for the etched work of Mr. Haden. We have
a kw facts or traditions. There is, for example. The Hundred Guilder
Print, which Rembrandt exchanged for some Marcantonios, but if it
pleased me to affirm that the linear work only was by the hand of
Rembrandt and the shading by an assistant, I might have the opinion of
artists and connoisseurs against me, yet they could not effectually defend
themselves. I should answer that down to a recent date all expert
opinion accepted plates that we now reject, and I should quote their
prices. A print of The Descent from the Cross has fetched ^36, a

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 77
Raising of Lazarus j/^72, a Good Samaritan the same. An Ecce Homo
has fetched f^i^o and a Gold Weigher £260, all of them prices consider
ably exceeding the poor ^^8 15.?. which Rembrandt is said to have got
for the Hundred Guilder Print (but did not). I may remind the reader
that Bartsch admitted 375 plates into his Rembrandt catalogue whilst
Mr. Middleton admitted only 329, and In a certain number of those
admitted even by Mr. Middleton there Is a great quantity of manual
work that is not now believed to be by the hand of Rembrandt.
Mr. Haden and I may be asked why we did not discover the spurious
plates twenty years sooner. Mr. Haden's answer Is that he never
admitted one of them into his private collection, or had the slightest
desire to possess them ; mine is that the plates selected for description in
" Etching and Etchers " are all still admitted to be perfectly genuine.
I well remember mv feelings about the doubtful plates. I naturally
trusted to the authority of the artists and connoisseurs of all nations
who had accepted them, and as Rembrandt had adopted many different
styles, I did not, at that time, see any reason why he should not have
adopted at times what may be called an engraver's rather than an
etcher's manner when it pleased him to reproduce designs already
executed In some other medium. In a word I believed (and there were
fairly good reasons for this belief) that Rembrandt occasionally executed
for commercial purposes, what may be called industrial work in etching.
It has since been suggested by Mr. Haden for reasons which to me are
satisfactory and convincing, but which do not amount to positive proofs,
that the industrial work formerly attributed to Rembrandt was, in
reality, done for him by pupils or assistants, who, according to the
practice of those days, and even the laws and regulations of their pro
fession, were not permitted to sign their names. We are, indeed,
compelled to choose between the two alternatives. Either, in certain
plates, plates of which the conception and composition belonged to
Rembrandt, the handicraft was done by himself purely as a matter of
business, as we used to believe, or else it must have been done as a matter
of business by anonymous pupils or assistants. It seems to me, now,
that the latter is more likely -much more likely, considering the strong
personality of Rembrandt's nature,— to be true, but our former belief
is excusable for a peculiar reason. The case bears no resemblance to

78 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
ordinary cases. Rembrandt v/as not like a Ruysdael, a Paul Potter, a
Turner, a Meryon, or a Samuel Palmer, who, each in his own way, had
a settled style In etching. Rembrandt had at least half-a-dozen styles,
and these did not succeed each other in any steady chronological order,
but were resumed or thrown aside according to the whim of the moment.
For example, in 1647, ^^ etches the famous Portrait of Jan Six (B. 285.
M. 159 ), which is the ne plus ultra of his finish as to tone and texture,
but in the follov/Ing year his style becomes linear again, as in the St.
Jerome writing, seated near a large Tree (B. 103. M. 223.), or it
combines line and shade, without any delicacy of tone or quality of
darks, as in the Marriage of Jason and Creusa (B. 286. M. 112.).
Instead of persevering in a style when he had succeeded in it, Rembrandt
more frequently abandoned it for something else. It requires, then,
considerable assurance in a critic to affirm of a changeable artist who
works in six styles that he has not, on another occasion, tried a seventh.
The most likely test is this. We know enough of Rembrandt to per
ceive that he must have been a highly intelligent man. If, therefore, any
workmanship attributed to him is manifestly mechanical, it is probably
due to some assistant. We also know that Rembrandt was immensely
productive, and that he must have been a good economist of time. If,
therefore, the mechanical execution had to be long and laborious (par
ticularly in large plates) we may conclude that he would pass it on to
another, unless, as in the case of the portrait of Six, there was some
technical object in view which could not be attained by another hand.
As for the morality of signing work not literally, as to handicraft, one's
own, the old masters had no more scruples on that point In the graphic
arts than our own contemporaries have in the practice of sculpture.
The questionable plates attributed to Rembrandt are not, however,
confined to works of which the design is due to him whilst the manual
labour was supplied by assistants. A considerable number of plates,
particularly but not exclusively landscapes, formerly attributed to
Rembrandt are now believed not only to have been executed by inferior
hands but conceived and composed by men of inferior artistic endow
ments. The reader perceives how much more serious is this question
than the other, as that related to handicraft alone and not to the first
conception of a work of art or the interpretation of nature.

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

79

II.

The reader may perhaps be surprised to hear that the supremacy of
Rembrandt in etching is not founded upon any unapproachable technical
superiority. It is mental, and manual so far as it proves the possession of
great executive power, but in such matters as the use of different qualities
of shade, thicknesses of line, and depths of biting, the cleverest professional
etchers of the present day are Rembrandt's superiors, and it is probable
that if he could examine their performances he would acknowledge it.
We have clear evidence that his grounds were not always well composed
or skilfully applied, that the bltings were certainly often deeper and
occasionally shallower than he intended them to be, and that his chemical
and technical science in all ways was less ad
vanced than our own is to-day. M. Amand-
Durand, who has given a thousand proofs of
the certainty of his own chemical operations,
is persuaded that Rembrandt must have had
what we should consider inferior resources at
his disposal, that he must have been mal outille.
Such etchings as Rembrandt in a Fur Cap and
Dark Dress (B. 6. M. 17.), Rembrandt with
Bushy Hair (B. 25. M. 49.), and Rembrandt
with Bushy Hair, and strongly shaded (B. 34.
M. 43.), are good examples of involuntary
face-blackening by too much acid, )'et the
hand that mismanaged these has given us the delightful little Rembrandt
with Moustache and small Beard (B. 2. M. 106.), which, both for the
perfectly Intelligent management of the point and the precisely sufficient
biting, is one of the most faultless works of art in the world. ^
It is probably as a result of the bad quality of an etching-ground that
Rembrandt's own great plate of •r/^t' Descent form the Cross (B. 81. M.

Rembrandt tvith M.t.ilache
and Small Board. B. 2.
M. I06.

1 This plate has long been known bv the ridiculous and almost unintelligible title
Rembrandt ttux Trois Moustach^es. Even the "small beard" is objectionable, as it con
veys an inexact idea. As we use the French .vord moustaeh.e, why not use the otiicr
convenient French word, barbich^e, or, when a mere tuft, impinale?

8o THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
1 86.) was destroyed in the biting. As the labour with the needle had
been enormous, the artist does not appear to have summoned courage
to begin the weary task over again, so he entrusted a replica to other
hands, and it is from this copy that the current edition has been printed,
the spoiled plate having only yielded trial proofs enough to demonstrate
Its worthlessness. This failure shows the importance of good biting, as
the work with the point was much more artistic in the rejected plate than
in the well-bitten one that Rembrandt too carelessly allowed to go forth
under his own name. Amongst minor failures from the same cause may
be mentioned The Rat Killer ; an injured Plate (B. 122. M. 260.).
A technical merit that Rembrandt often displayed in an exceptional
degree was his masterly way of combining strong and delicate work
in the same plate, of which there is an excellent example in Rembrandt s
Mother, seated, looking to the Right (B. 343. M. 54.), where the face
and hands are treated in one style of execution, the dress in another, and
the table-cover and background more summarily in a third. The
etching-needle thus becomes like three different instruments which
may be compared to musical instruments played together In concerted
music. Such execution gives the pleasure of difference In unity. It
strongly contrasts, for example, with the unintelligent uniformity of
Van Vliet's execution, which was excessively industrious, but only
resulted in opacity.
The intentional combination of different ways of handling the
point in a single plate is not to be confounded with an involuntary
mixture of styles, a fault to which the inexperienced are often exposed
because they have not the power of will and foresight that predetermines
the exact nature of a work of art from the first stroke to the last.
Nothing can prove more convincingly the vigour and sanity of
Rembrandt's intellect than the decision with which the executive scheme
or project of each work is settled before it is begun. Each separate
etching is an enterprise in itself and may be a new experiment. The
artist has all his powers and faculties under control, he is never carried
beyond his first intention by the seductive detail of nature, and he is
never prevented from observing nature by any fixed habit of execution.
Even in his full maturity he can cast aside styles in which he has been
perfectly successful, either to resume the practice of an old one or

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

8i

invent a new. Yet, in each work, he remains as faithful to the style
determined upon for that work as if he had never mastered any other.
Such a power of self-direction is very rare in art. All the engravlno-s
of Lucas of Leyden, of Albert Diirer, of Schongauer, are in each case
technically alike. The etchings of Ruysdael, of Ostade, of Paul Potter,
are, in each case, executed on the same principles. All Titian's pen-
drawings are technically the same, all Turner's etchings, if we do not
consider the subject, are but one etching. Samuel Palmer laboriously
brought one kind of etching to its own
perfection. Tenniel's variety as a draughts
man is in subject, not in execution. Gerome
has a fixed and uniform style with the hard
pencil point, the modern substitute for
silver-point. Sir Frederick Leighton always
draws in the same manner with black and
white chalk on brown paper. All these
artists, by fidelity to one method, reached
and maintained a particular kind of skill,
but Rembrandt had not this special practice
in his favour.
For the same reason, no critic who has a
special doctrine about the practice of etching can
appeal to Rembrandt as an authority. When
Mr. Haden says that an etching ought to be executed in one sitting to
preserve the freshness of the impression we are at liberty to reply that
this can be done in a small linear etching when drawing is preserved but
light and shade only indicated, as, for example, in the little plate of
A Jew with a High Cap (B. 133. M. 140.), or that it can be done
in a larger plate when all accuracy of drawing is abandoned as in The
Large Lion Hunt (B. 114. M. 272.), but that all etchings by Rembrandt
in which drawing and any approach to complete shading are united must
of necessity have occupied several sittings and certainly did so. If,
on the other hand, a critic were to maintain with Samuel Palmer that so
long as labour is intelligent the value of a work of art is increased in
exact proportion with the amount of toil bestowed upon It we might
answer that there are many plates by Rembrandt, very slightly executed.

'S-'wH'mifffifs^

A foiu luit/i a Higit Cap.
B. I 33. Ad. 140.

82

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

such, for example, as The Bull (B. 253. M. 289.), or the little Resurrec
tion of Lazarus (B. 72. M. 215), to which nothing could have been added
even by the master himself without destruction as they are already complete
according to the style of execution adopted. To turn a sketch into
what is called a finished drawing is to destroy the sketch and substitute

A Sketch for the Hundrea Guilder Print.

another thing In its place. There is of course, no objection to finishing
a thing in its own sense. We have a beautiful unfinished etching by
Rembrandt, An Old Man lifting his Hand to his Cap (B. 259. M. 179.),
in which the head, hand, and cap are carried as far as the etcher Intended,
the rest being indicated, apparently for future work. To complete such

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 83
an etching would be to respect the work already done and go on
elsewhere in harmony with it.
There is another doctrine professed and acted upon by some modern
etchers (I know one who is quite faithful to it) that all work in original
etching ought to be executed directly from nature. We have reasons for
believing that Rembrandt did occasionally work from nature on the
copper. The story is that once at Six's country house, where Rembrandt
was present at an early dinner, there was no mustard. The host sent to
fetch some from the village, and Rembrandt betted that before the
servant (who was a slow fellow) returned he would etch a plate. He
accordingly drew on copper the subject thereby Immortalised as Six's
Bridge (B. 208. M. 3i3.)> which was visible through the window. If
this story (told by Gersaint) is true, as it well may be. It shows that
Rembrandt had a prepared plate with him, ready to do a landscape
directly from nature, and it is highly probable that The Goldweigher s
Field (B. 234. M. 326.) and several other plates that might be men
tioned were done in the same way, though not so rapidly.^ On the
other hand, we have good evidence that some of the most important
plates were done either from complete drawings of the whole subject or
from experimental sketches of their different parts. I have not space to
mention all the plates belonging to one or the other of these two
categories, but amongst the important and most celebrated works 1
may mention The Death of the Virgin and Christ Healing the Sick (the
Hundred Guilder Print) as executed with the help of preparatory studies
of parts, which are well known to us, whilst as to portraits we have In
the British Museum the original drawing of Cornelis Anslo, from which
the etching was made. The etching oi Joseph telling his Dreams (B.37.
M. 205.) is also an example of etching prepared for by previous work, as
Rembrandt had made first a grisaille of the whole subject and afterwards
a red chalk drawing of the figure of Jacob. Every kind of etching, even
including the elaborate kind of tone-etching which has been adopted for
the interpretation of pictures, may claim authority from the various and
^ I had nearly written not in such a hurry, but that would have been inaccurate, as
Rembrandt, with the consummate power of self-direction that we have been noticing,
merely decided to adopt his most summary means of expression, and then hurried himself
no more than the slow Dutchman who had gone to fetch the mustard.
G 2

84 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
versatile practice of the great master. If any one asserts that linear
expression is a legitimate purpose in etching he certainly has Rembrandt
on his side, but if he says that it is the only legitimate purpose of the
art, then Rembrandt answers with tone plates like his St. Jerome; in the
dark manner (B. 105. M. 214.), or he combines the most vigorous, and I
may say magical, use of line with powerful and massive shading as in
The Presentation ; in Rembrandt s dark manner (B. 50. M. 243.).

Ill
I have still to consider the question of the spurious plates, and that
of assistance given to Rembrandt by pupils or other artists in plates that
were designed by him and probably more or less worked upon by his
own hand. I was prepared to go into these questions fully, but limits
of space and time compel me to be laconic, so that I can only give
results. This can be done most quickly by a list with a few words
of commentary. The Descent from the Cross (B. 81. M. 187.). The large etching
of this subject. Rembrandt himself first etched it on the same scale
and with elaborate shading, all by his own hand. The etching ground,
having been badly composed or ill-applied, did not resist the acid so
that the plate was ruined beyond redemption in the biting. Three
proofs were taken and the plate abandoned, but a second etching was
made from it, a copy in which the drawing is vulgar and the shading
commonplace, but the biting clear and sound. The copy is obviously
not by Rembrandt himself, though made under his supervision. It
is a commercial plate.
Ecce Homo (B. 77. M. 200.). Also a large commercial plate done
by some assistant under Rembrandt's supervision, the etcher proceeding
as a copyist (we know this from proofs of the work in progress)
and guided by Rembrandt's corrections, but, of course, unable to give
Rembrandt's . handling in the shaded parts whilst he vulgarised his
drawing. What remains of the original author is the composition,
and the general arrangement of chiaroscuro.
The Raising of Lazarus (B. 73. M. 188.). Here the share of
Rembrandt himself Is rather more difficult to determine. Judging

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 85
from his usual habits I should say that he would never have been
at the trouble to shade the arched border in this way. Several plates
by^ Rembrandt are arched, but in a sketchy manner. If, then, an
assistant was employed for the border he probably did other work
besides, most likely all the heavy shading, perhaps all the figure or
Christ and the figu4-es to the left. Lazarus and the astonished
spectators to the right are drawn without useless labour and display
great power of expression, but if the reader will compare the manual
execution with the firm, clear, and decided drawing of the faces in
The Hundred Guilder Print he will see that these, though cleverly
executed, do not display the same marvellous use of line. Mr. Haden
thinks that the arrangement of the subject and the "melodramatic
action" are not like Rembrandt. We know, indeed, the small
Resurrection of Lazarus (B. 72. M. 215.), which is remarkable for
the absence of stage effect. My own conclusion Is that the framework
and all the heavy shading are certainly not Rembrandt's handiwork,
whilst Lazarus and the spectators near him are very doubtful.
The Good Samaritan (B. 90. M. 185.). A laborious commercial plate,
very different from the preceding. After the sublime we come down to
the pretty. What strikes me in this plate Is that It belongs strictly to Its
own time. Its Interpretation of nature and its peculiar finish are of the
seventeenth century, all through, but Rembrandt's work in etching dis
tinguishes itself from modern work by sheer superiority, not by being
old-fashioned. The invention of the subject has been traced by Vosmaer
to J. van de Velde. Mr. Haden attributes the execution to Ferdinand
Bol. The Mountebank or Charlatan (B. 129. M. 117.). Mr. Haden
refers to Vosmaer as having attributed the design of The Charlatan to
J. van de Velde, but Vosmaer only mentions the Charlatan In a list of
things of a certain date and his remark did not refer to this etching
but to The Pancake Woman) This little plate is of first-rate excellence,
and Rembrandt's.
1 Vosmaer is giving a list of etchings executed at a certain time, and mentions, amongst
others "/^ Charlatan, la Faiseuse de Galettes — piece qui rappelle beaucoup une estampe de
I. Van de Velde." The reader sees that the word pi}ce, which is in the singular number,
refers to one etching only, and that the last mentioned.

86 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
The Pancake Woman (B. 124. M. 264.). Mr. Haden says that J.
Van de Velde Is " the reputed author " of The Pancake Woman, and refers
to Vosmaer as an authority, but Vosmaer did not attribute either the de
sign or the execution to Van de Velde, he merely said that the etching
reminded him very much of a print by that artist. I have always been
struck by something foreign to Rembrandt's genius in the scheme of this
very cleverly executed plate. He may have accepted a suggestion.
Three Oriental Heads. First Head, Full Face, " Jacob Cats " (B.
286. M. 122.), Second Head, a Profile to the Left (B. 287. M. 123.),
Third Head, a Profile to the Right (B. 288. M. 124.).
There is nothing by Rembrandt resembling these heads either in
conception or execution, and there are two plates by Lievens resembling
them in subject and treatment but less bitten. Mr. Haden believes all
three to be by Lievens, who had a taste for staring eyes and heavy head
dresses. To this M. Emile Michel replies that Lievens never was a
pupil of Rembrandt, and it seems that he lived away from him. As
there is a certain lightness of hand in Lievens that there is not here, and
as the conception is obviously influenced by Lievens, I should conclude
that the plates were done by some contemporary unknown to us.
A Beggar and a Companion Piece (B. 177. M. 112.). Easily recog
nisable by the inscriptions tis vinnich Kout and dats niet.
Suggested by two plates of Beham with inscriptions identical in sense
though not verbally the same. These with Rembrandt's name are
cleverly executed but not so delicately as many of his beggars. Mr.
Haden thinks that Savry etched them. Vosmaer mentions a sketch by
Rembrandt with the first inscription. He may have made two sketches,
etched afterwards, somewhat heavily, by another hand, under his direction
or by his leave.
St. Jerome sitting at the Foot of a Tree (B. 100. M. 190.). I give
Mr. Middleton's title. Mr. Haden calls the plate "St. Jerome in
Meditation," which may easily confuse the reader, as Charles Blanc
calls his 76 (M. 210.), St. Jerome en Meditation {maniere noire) and
his 77 (M. 176.), St. Jerome en Meditation {Vieillard Homme de Lettres).
Mr. Haden says that this little plate, easily known by the curious
heraldic lion (the size of a greyhound), is by Bol. Though effective
in its own way as an arrangement of lights and darks, and prettily

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT 87
executed in a neat old-fashioned style we may be sure that it was neither
designed nor executed by Rembrandt.
The Flight into Egypt; a small upright Print (B. 52. M. 184.).
1 have no belief in the authenticity of this little etching, which would
be creditable to a minor artist.
Adverse Fortune (B. iii. M. 262.). Very unlike Rembrandt, both
in conception and execution.
The Gold Weigher (B. 281. M. 138). From a design by Rembrandt
but mainly executed by some inferior and more mechanical hand. The
head and shoulders of the principal figure are believed to be by Rem
brandt himself.
Rembrandt drawing from a Model (B. 192. M. 284.). Probably
sketched by the master to be shaded by some assistant, and then
abandoned before the shading was finished.
St. Jerome, an unfinished Piece (B. 104. M. 234.). Mr. Haden
says that this is from a drawing by Titian sold in London at Dr.
Wellesley's sale which was still recent in 1877. The lion, however,
was absent from the drawing and the saint's place was occupied by a
recumbent figure of Venus.
Mr. Haden does not say that the drawing has been reversed in the
etching, so we may infer that it was not. It was Titian's habit in
work that he did not correct with the square always to incline lines
to the right. We find an inclination in the same direction here (see
buildings). Rembrandt himself had not this tendency.
The landscape has been executed cleverly on a principle not usually
Rembrandt's, objects presenting themselves in the flat as if cut out of
card-board (see tree trunk). It reminds one of Felix Buhot's style
with flat facets and short, decided strokes, a manually skilful style,
but unlike Rembrandt's most personal way of etching. The figure
of the saint may be by him.
Jan Antonides van der Linden (B. 264. M. 167.). Charles Blanc
thought that changes made after the fourth state of this portrait were
modern. M. Dutuit thinks that changes after the third state are not
Rembrandt's. Mr. Middleton agrees, in substance, with M. Dutuit. In
other words the greater part of the shading has been added by some
body else.

88 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
To me the whole plate is unsatisfactory, considered as a Rembrandt.
The face may be creditable and has some quiet character, but anybody
could etch the costume and the background, and as for the hand it is
wooden and the forefinger a mere stick. It is very inferior to
Rembrandt's usual incisive marking of character in hands.
The Onion Woman (B. 134. M. 66.). Mr. Middleton attributes the
coarse and ugly appearance of this plate to over-biting, but over-biting
would not affect the original Intelligence of treatment in the use of line
which is here mediocre and destitute of Rembrandt's usual delicacy of
observation. Mr. Middleton argues that the execution here is no worse
than that oi Lazarus Klap (B. 171. M. 72.). Perhaps both plates may
have been executed by Rembrandt in a lazy mood. " It is Impossible,"
says Mr. Ruskin, " to bring drawing to any point of fine rightness with
half-applied energy."
The Little Dog Sleeping (B. 158. M. 267.). I like the little doggie
who sleeps soundly and who for the last two centuries has been sleeping
more soundly still. Rembrandt, who took an interest in sleep, may
have been tempted by the subject. Mr. Middleton says, " It is an
open question whether The Little Dog Sleeping is the work of
Rembrandt at all." A copy is in existence in which the sharp
linear touches are wanting. The best plate is still inferior to The Hog
(B. 157. M. 227.) and even to the Sketch of a Dog (B. 371. M. 266.)
in the use of line, but it is well lighted and was admitted as authentic
in the Burlington Club exhibition of 1877.
Besides the plates already given in this Hst there are a number of
landscapes, principally of small size, what may be called pocket plates,
that have been unwarrantably attributed to Rembrandt, and others that
are doubtful. One of the best of these is a dry-point Landscape, with a
Fisherman in a Boat (B. 243. M. rej. 19.), which previous catalogue
makers had accepted, but which Mr. Middleton rejects. The difficulty
in ascribing it to Rembrandt lies in the fact that we have no other dry-
point certainly by him, of a similar subject, with which to compare it, and
bitten plates do not afford materials for a technical comparison. The exe
cution here Is simple and modern-looking, but the distance is not so refined
in treatment as many of Rembrandt's distances. I have no hesitation in
rejecting the unmeaning scrawl called Landscape, with a Canal and a Man

THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT

89

Fishing (B. 244. M. rej. 8.), though an impression of it has been sold for
the relatively prodigious sum of _^ 148. There may be twenty minutes'
work In this perfectly worthless performance. I agree, too, with the
rejection oi A Landscape with five Cottages, unfinished (B. 255. M. rej.
12.). The subject might have interested Rembrandt, but the execution
Is much weaker and less assured than his. There is a long-shaped Land-

Landscape zvith a Fisherman in a Boat. B. 243. 71^. rej. 19.

scape, with a clump of Trees by the Road Side (B. 229. M. rej. 15.), which
admirably expresses the peculiar character of Dutch scenery, with the
road on a dyke above the level of the polders, but the workmanship is
certainly not Rembrandt's.
I have not space to go through all the rejected landscapes, and have
already invited the reader to the study of some undoubtedly authentic
ones, by which he will be able to form his own judgment.
It is much easier to say that Rembrandt did not execute certain pieces
of work than to affirm who did execute them, and it is safer to accept
the negative part of Mr. Haden's criticism than the positive. For

90 THE ETCHINGS OF REMBRANDT
example, it appears certain now that Lievens and van Vliet were never
pupils of Rembrandt, and In 1631 Lievens had left Holland. There
may have been a difficulty about Bol's collaboration on account of his
age, as he was only sixteen In 1632. Besides, it is always difficult to
name assistants, especially when their work is mixed up with that of the
master. There Is a celebrated and successful living etcher from pictures
who has often employed an assistant whom I know personally. I am
familiar with the styles of both artists, but should not be able to
separate their work on the same plate. The collaboration is kept secret
and not a critic or other artist living has ever su§pected it, still less
has he been able to guess the assistant's name. I know it because he
told me.
Just a word in conclusion. I have been studying the works of
Rembrandt's immediate predecessors and contemporaries in etching with
a view to understand his relative position more accurately. The result
has been only to deepen my sense of the master's incomparable greatness,
of his sterling originality, and especially of that wonderful quality in
him by which he does not belong to the seventeenth century but quite as
much to the closing years of the nineteenth. In like manner, when
it comes, he will be at home in the twentieth century, and in many
another after it.

INDEX

'¦ Abrah.^m caressing Isaac," 63
" Abraham dismissing Hagar," 28
"Abraham entertaining the Angels," 55, 69
"Abraham's Sacrifice," 52
" Academical Figure, formerly called, ' The
Prodigal Son,'" 41
" Academical Figure seated on the Ground,"
"Academical Figures of Two Men,' 63, 64
'¦ Adam and Eve," 29, 75
"Adoration ofthe Shepherds," 7
Adriaen van Ryn, 28
"Adverse Fortune," 87
"Allegorical Piece," 75
Amand-Durand, 39, 42, 79
Amsterdam, 18, 19
"Anatomy Lesson," 11, 27
"Angel appearing to the Shepherds," 24
"Angel ascending from Tobit," 33, 34
"Anslo, Cornelis," 33, 83
" Antiope and Jupiter," 56
" Arched Landscape, with Flock of Sheep," 7 1
"Baptism ofthe Eunuch," 34
Bany, 11
Bartsch, 5, 9, II, 77
" Bathers, The," 44
Battle-piece, 67
" Beggar, and a Companion Piece, A," 86
Beham, 86
Blanc, Charles, 5, 9, 22, 23, 34, 46, 51, 86, 87
" Blind Man seen from Behind," 7
Bol, Ferdinand, 85, 86, 90
"Bonus, Ephraim," 41, 65
" Bull, The," 43, 82
Burlington Fine Arts Club, 5, 88
" Bust of a Bald Old Man, leaning forward,"
66
" Bust of an Old Man, with long Beard," 19
"Bust of an Old Woman, lightly etched," 14
Charreyre, 6
" Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus," 24, 51
"Christ and His Parents returning from
Jerusalem," 48
" Christ and the Samaritan Woman," 23, 24,
56
" Christ before Pilate," 53
" Christ Disputing with the Doctors," 17,46,51
" Christ Driving out the Money-Changers," 24
" Christ Healing the Sick," 31, 39, 43, 62, 69,
76, 77, 83
"Christ in the midst of His Disciples," 43
" Christ Preaching," 69
" Christ's Body carried to the Tomb," 69
Claussin, 5, 9
Constable, 12
Cornelya van Ryn, 30, 32
'¦ Cottage with White Pales," 39, 72
" David on his Knees," 46
"Death ofthe Virgin," 31, 83
De Jonghe, Clement, 45

" Descent from the Cross," 20, 36, 48. 52, 76
79> 84
" Disciples at Emmaus," 29
Dow, Gerard, 15, 24
Dutuit, s— 7, 9, 10, 29, 35, 36, 43, 46, 55, 65,
66,87
" Ecce Homo,'' 77, 84
Flameng, L., 10, 58
" Flight into Egypt," 45, 47, 48, 72, 75, 87
Fuseli, II
Geddes, Andrew, 66
Gersaint, 83
" Goldweigher, The," 77, 87
" Goldweigher's Field, The," 44, 83
" Good Samaritan, The," 77, 85
Haden, Seymour, 5, 22, 24, 43, 76, 77, 81, 85
-87, 89
" Haring, J. T," 52, 56, 65
Harmen van Ryn, 28, 60
" Head of a Bald Old Man," 66
Hertsbeeck, 1. van, 47
" Hog, The," 39, 88
" Holy Family with the Serpent," 63
Houbraken, 1 1
Hull, 70
"Hundred Guilder Frmf—see "Christ
Healing the Sick "
" Jacob lamenting the supposed Death of
Joseph," 63
"Jewish Bride, The," 22, 25, 29, 30
" Jews' Synagogue, A," 42
"Jew with a high Cap," 81
"Joseph telling his Dreams," 29, 83
" Klap, Lazarus," 88
" Landscape, with a Canal and large Boat," 44.
"Landscape, with a Canal and a Man fish
ing," 89
" Landscape, with Canal and Swans," 43
" Landscape, with a Clump of Trees," 89
" Landscape, with a Fisherman in a Boat," SS
" Landscape, with five Cottages, unfinished,"
89
" Landscape, with an Obelisk," 71
'• Landscape, with ruined Tower," 70, 71
" Landscape, with a Vista," 46, 47
" Large Landscape, with Dutch Hay Barn,"
35, 71
" Large Landscape, with Mill Sail," 35
Lairesse, G., 11
Lastman, P., 15, 18
" La Tombe " — see " Christ Preaching "
Leslie, 12, 61, 66
Leyden, 14, 18, 28, 32, 60
Lievens, Jan, 11, 86, 90
Lijsbeth v. Ryn, 28
Linden, J. A., v. der, 87
" Lion Hunt, A," 34, 66, 81
" Little Dog Sleeping," 72, 88

92

INDEX

'¦' Little Polander, The," 19
'Lutma, J.," 55
" Man with Short Beard and Embroidered
Cloak," 19
" Man with a Crucifix and Chain," 33
" Man Playing Cards," 33
" Martyrdom of S. Stephen," 24
'¦ Medea, or the Marriage of Jason," 42, 78
'' Menasseh Ben Israel," 25, 26
" Mountebank, The," 25, 85
Michel, Iimile, 6, 43, 63, 86
Middleton, 5, 7, 9, 10, 15, 25, 29, 34, 36, 43,
46, 47, 71, 77, 87, 89
" Negress lying on a Couch," 56
" Old Man in a Velvet Cap," 28
" Old Man Hfting his Hand to his Cap," 82
"Old Man resting his Hands on a Book,"
67
" Old Man with a divided Fur Cap," 32
'Old Man with a Large Beard," 17
" Old Man with a Short Beard," 66
" Old Woman etched no lower than the
Chin," 21
" Old Woman's Head, full face, seen only to
the Chin," 14
" Old Woman Sleeping," 66
" Onion Woman, The," 88
Opie, II
" Orchard, with a Barn," 71
Orlers, IS, 59
"Pancake Woman, The," 25, 85, 86
" Persian, A," 20
"Portrait of a Man with a broad-brimmed
Hat," 17
" Portrait of a Man with a Sabre," 22
" Presentation, The," 12, 84
'The Presentation, with the Angel," 17
"Profile of a Bald Man," 17
" Profile of a Bald Man, with a jewelled
Chain," 65
" Prodigal Son, The," 27
" Raising of Lazarus, The," 39, 77, 82, 84, 85
" Rat-Killer, The," 20, 42, 80
" Repose, A," 39
Rembrandt, the vicissitudes of his reputa
tion, II ; criticisms of his art, 11, 12; his
supreme position in present times, 13 ;
compared with Raphael, 13, 14; his first
dated etching, 14; his apprenticeship to
Swanenburch and Lastman, 15 ; he settles
at Amsterdam, 18; his marriage with
Saskia, 2 1 : changes of residence at Amster
dam, 30 ; his home and art treasures, 32 ;
his pecuniary difficulties, 47, 52, 55 ; de
clared bankrupt, 55 ; sale of his effects,
56 ; his death, 1:7, 58
"Rembrandt, a Bust," 15; " and bis Wife,"
22, 27 ; " drawing," 43 ; " drawing from a
Model," 87; "in a Fur Cap and Dark
Dress," 31, 79 ; "full-faced, laughing," 16 ;
" in Mezetin Cap," 29 ; " Leaning on a
Stone Sill," 30 ; " with an Air of Grimace,"
]6; "with an Open Mouth," 16; "with
Broad Hat and Embroidered Mantle," 19;

"with Bushy Hair," 30, 79; "with Curly
Hair," 16; "with Fur Cap and Light
Dress," 16 ; "with Haggard Eyes," 16, 17 ;
" with Moustache and Small Beard," 79 ;
"with round Fur Cap," 19; "with a
Scarf," 20, 30
" Rembrandt's Mill," 35
" Rembrandt's Mother," 18, 19, 32
" Rembrandt's Wife, and five other Heads,"
22, 27
Rumbartus v. Ryn, 28, 35
Ruskin, 12, 31, 88
Reynolds, 11
" Saint Catherine," 29, 30
" Saint Francis," 55
" Saint Jerome," 20, 36, 42, 67, 72, 78, 84, 86,
87
" Saint Peter," 39
Saskia, 21, 22, 27, 28, 30, 33, 35, 39, 55
Savry, 86
" Schoolmaster, The," 33, 63
Schuurmann, 56
" Sheet of Sketches, A," 62
" Shell, The," 12, 43
" Shepherd and his Family," 39
"Sketch of a Dog," 72, 88
Six, Jan, 14, 41, 42, 52, 78, 83
" Six's Bridge," 39, 83
" Star of the Kings," 7
" Stoning of Stephen," 29
" Student in his Chamber," 67
Swanenburch, Van, 15, 18
Sylvius, J. C, 21, 22, 40, 65
"Three Beggars at the Door of a House," 42
" Three Cottages," 43
"Three Crosses, The," 47, 48, 52
" Three Heads of Women," 22, 29
" Three Oriental Figures," 34, 42
" Three Oriental Heads," 86
" Three Peasants Travelling," 64
" Three Trees, The," 39, 71
Titia V. Ryn, 57
Titian, 87
Titus V. Ryn, 35, 55, 57
" Tobit, Blind," 44, A5
" Triumph of Mordecai," 7
Uijtenbogaerd, J., 25
Velde van de, Jan, 25, 85, 86
" View of Omval," 39
" Village with a River," 71
" Village with a Square Tower," 43, 71
" Virgin and Child in Clouds," 33
''Virgin Mourning the Death of Jesus," 63
Vliet, Van, 80, 90
Vondel, 10
Vosmaer, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 21, 32, 35, 43, 44
57, 60, 62, 85, 86
Wilson, 5, 9
Witsen, C, 47
" Woman Sitting on a Hillock," 75
" Woman with an Arrow," 56
" Young Woman Reading," 23, 28
" Young Man Seated," 28
" Youth surprised by Death," 31, 64

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