Part 10 (1/2)

This is the s of Rembrandt; and as it was done expressly for his friend and patron, we can easily iine that the painter exerted himself to the utmost, so as to render it worthy of the subject I have been at soet an account of the faleaned little fro the ith England, in the reign of Charles the Second, he was Secretary of State to the City of Amsterdam, and his family was afterwards connected with some of their most celebrated men But what has rendered his na with the fae of Rembrandt--in the same way that Lord Southae of Shakspere We knoas devoted to literature as well as the fine arts, having left a tragedy on the story of Medea, a copy of which is ue of Re by the artist was prefixed to the work--viz, the ”Marriage of Jason and Creusa;” the rare states of this print are before the quotation of the Dutch verses underneath--also the statue of Juno is without the diadem, which was afterwards added I have mentioned that this portrait was a private plate; in fact, the copper is still in the possession of the family In a sale which took place in 1734, for a division of the property a the various branches, fourteen iht comparatively small prices, from the number to be contended for Two proofs, however, on India paper are still in the portfolio of his descendants, which in five years will, it is said, be brought to the hae These proofs will in all probability realize two hundred guineas each The ease and natural attitude of the figure in this work are adht, with the delicacy and truth of the reflected lights, are rendered with the strong staht also, bytouches in the shadow, coue of common portraiture The only work I can at present think of that can be brought into coth portrait of Charles the First, by Vandyke, in the Queen's Collection, and which is rendered so fa into an examination of the execution of this print, it is evident the whole effect is produced by reat labour The best i to Gersaint's catalogue, that at the sale of the Burgohteen florins The next portrait ao,” which has always struck me as one of the foundations for the style of Sir Joshua Reynolds in portraiture A fine impression of this work, on India paper, is more like Sir Joshua than h veneration I have for Reynolds, I cannot ouously he frequently speaks of this great genius We know his master, Hudson, had an excellent collection of Rembrandt's works, and therefore he must have been early imbued with their merits and peculiarities This, however, we shall have a better opportunity of noticing e co in excellence I should mention is the ”Portrait of John Lutround; this was afterwards softened down by the introduction of aAnd here I rounds to his prints, yet in his finished pictures they were generally the reverse The etching of ”Ephraim Bonus, the Jewish Physician,” is also one of his most effective works; the introduction of the balustrade, on which he leans descending the staircase, removes it from the ordinary level of mere portraiture

On the hand that rests upon the balustrade, is a ring, which in the very rare i done with the dry point, prints dark from the burr These are invaluable, as in that state the whole work has the fulness and richness of a picture A very large suiven for the impression of the print in this state--now in the British Museuh at the Verstolke sale, where this print was purchased, the coiven amounted to two hundred and fifty pounds: but e consider that the collection in the British Museum is now the finest in existence, no extra price should be spared to complete the collection, especially as these works are foundations for the sure improvement of the fine arts in the country The croels are exhibited as a necessary appendage to the rank of the nation--but there the value stops; now the works of art in this country are not only valuable, but intrinsically beneficial We know that Charles the Second pawned the crown pearls to the Dutch for a few thousands; but our collection of Rembrandts would realize in Holland at least ten thousand pounds This, of course, is a digression, and is merely mentioned here to sho absurd the hue and cry is, that the country is wastinga few speciardus” is also excellent; and I e book, which Re, as a ht and employment for his portraits Now, to these circumstances we are indebted for sost er in Lawrence's ”Portraits of the Baring Family,” and Sir Joshua's picture of the ”Dilettante Society,” and others No doubt we find theseup a picture both in Raffaelle and titian; but it is rendered ht nearer to our own tienius as Res is the ”Portrait of Cornelius Silvius,” the head of which, being delicately finished with the dry needle, is seldom seen very fine This also has a book, and the hand extended beyond the fra, upon which it casts its shadow This practice of representing objects nearer the eye than the frame is certainly to be observed in some of the prints after Rubens and others, and has descended to several coht not to be adopted, as bordering too nated as a sort of _ad captanduus_ display As we shall speak more particularly of Reated, these works are merely mentioned as excellent specimens of composition and chiaro-scuro I reat Coppenol, the writing-master to the city of Amsterdam: he holds a pen and a sheet of paper in his hand, and is looking at the spectator with a look of intelligent observation The head and figure of this ere perfected, in the first instance, before the background was put in, and in this state is exceedingly rare--the one in the British Museust other rare works in his collection, by the Rev Mr Cracherode, to the public And here we ought to bear in ely by their bequests to the country, it is our bounden duty to carry out their views by perfecting the various collections as opportunities offer in the course of time, which to them was impossible

In one of the impressions in the Museue ornamental hand, a commendation by Coppenol himself, wherein he says he does so to unite his nareat artist, Rembrandt Van Ryn, as by that means he knows he shall secure immortality to himself The portrait, however, that is thethe Advocate The effect, both froht on the face, and the fearless masses of burr, is more like a picture than a print, and renders every other etching comparatively tame From the cheown in which he is dressed, I am of opinion that he was a physician The excellence of this work, added to its rarity, has at all tie prices There are two states of this print--the first with an irregular beard, the second with the beard cut square, also some additional work on the drapery, &c; but, what is worthy of rely scarce; in fact, there are but seven impressions known--viz, two in the British Museum, one in Mr Holford's collection, one in Mr Hawkins', in Amsterdae

I ought here to notice that the Van Tolling is one of the prints bequeathed to the nation by the Rev Mr Cracherode, and that at the sale of the Hon Pole Carew's prints, in 1835, this valuable etching was purchased for the late Baron Verstolke, for two hundred and twenty pounds

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF VAN TOLLING]

I shall now enter upon an investigation of the LANDSCAPES OF REMBRANDT, which, equally with his portraits, are quite peculiar to hi from all others not fro the real essence and character of the scene, when denuded of any trifling and extraneous matters Whatever Rembrandt touched was ienius; hence it is that the sh painting belongs exclusively to no country, but represents the natural appearance of each, still it is reserved for genius alone to be able to perceive and place on canvas the essence, as it were, or great leading features of the subject I a of landscape scenery In all countries and climates there are peculiarities of effect, which, however interesting to the traveller, or a source of investigation to the philosopher or man of science, yet are necessarily excluded fro pencil of the artist; his appeal is to e, not to the isolated feho observe but one side of the subject The true artist looks upon nature as the cha out any variety, and yet all equally true; hence it is that the skies, for example, of Claude, Salvator Rosa, and Gaspar Poussin are universally subordinate to the general effect of the picture Thesein Italy, were quite aware of the various prismatic effects observable in sunset, but were also convinced of the necessity ofthe sky subservient, at least conducive to, the breadth and harmony of the picture It may be said that titian and Tintoret embodied the deep and intense blues of the Venetian atmosphere, but we may remark that their skies are always held in check by the deep reds and browns of the draperies of their figures Let us noever, turn our remarks more immediately to Rembrandt, and the scenery and effects observable in Holland Any one conversant with the pictures of the Dutch school must have observed peculiar features in the skies of Backhuysen, Cuyp, and Re entirely from the localities of the scenes of their several pictures My young friend, E W Cooke, long a resident in Holland, and a keen and observing artist, reh dark and inky, were precisely e see now--the deep Zuyder Sea sing up any refraction of light which would otherwise have illu the coruscations arising fro of the two rivers, the Meuse and the Waal, the scenes of most of his pictures, exhibit that luminous reflection and unsteady appearance peculiar to his works

I reat observers of nature followed implicitly as presented to their observation, but to show that when even copying the peculiar character of natural phenomena, it was done with a strict reference to the harreat broad principle In a flat country like Holland, especially where a low horizontal line is chosen, we perceive a peculiar feature takes precedence of everything else--that is, the quick diht, whilst the lines running parallel with the base line of the picture retain their length in a greater degree; hence the accumulation of these lines, such as the division of fields, &c, gradually shade down the distant parts of the landscape, while the foreshortened lines assume the appearance of so many spots, or dark touches In Rembrandt we perceive this character faithfully rendered, and also, assisted by his judicious ement, the lines, such as the banks of canals or roads, as they reach the foreground, are strongly pronounced, by either bringing the theround, reeds, or dark herbage The objects that stand up, such as trees, &c, are enlarged and darkened as they approach the eye; thus not only enabling them to keep their situation, but also to assist the perspective effect in the highest degree His ss illustrate these remarks, and are full of the touches of truth and nature; and where objects are wanting to give variety and interest, he introducesother parts in mere outline The love of his art caused hi and etching, so that we have these transcripts of nature fresh from the fountain head We know this fro of ”Six's Bridge,” in his catalogue, he says, ”This plate was produced by an incident which deserves to be related

Reomaster Six, and was frequently at his country seat One day, when they were there together, the servant came to acquaint the down to table, they perceived that oe to buy soishness of the Dutch servants, and when they answer _austons_ (a-co) they are half an hour before they appear, offered the Burgoer that he would etch a plate before his er, and Rembrandt, who had always plates at hand ready varnished, immediately took one up, and etched upon it the landscape which appeared fro The plate was finished before the servant returned, and Reht, but it is a wonderful perfor the circumstance that produced it” It is not wonderful on account of the rapidity hich it was done, but the genius and science that pervade every touch, not only in the general arrangeement of the smallest darks; they are all in the most effective situations When the plate was bit in, the name was left out; it was afterwards added with the dry point; also a little shading was given to the hat of one of the figures on the bridge, which in the rare state is white I may notice here that it was also Rembrandt's practice to sketch with the dry point alone, as several of his landscapes show; this has a very rich and full effect Hisof the ”Three Trees” What I have said respecting his giving force to those parts nearest the eye,dark under the platforiven, as it has always been considered the mill in which he was born; but I believe it is merely a mill of a picturesque character, which he consequently etched In the rare impressions, the sky is much stained on the plate towards the house and mill, and I believe intentionally so, as it enables the subject toless harsh; at least, I found in in of the plate cleaned the stains in the sky also, that I had to restore theain with regard to Reation of his principles of colour, I shall now coh he stands as an artist in that difficult branch of the art, at the same time aware how feeble words must be to express adequately the deep-toned richness of Re

[Illustration: SIX'S BRIDGE]

[Illustration: REMBRANDT'S MILL]

COLOUR

Perhaps, if we can comprehend a species of coloured chiaro-scuro, or the addition of colour to the broad and soft principles of light and shade, we shall be able to for Indistinctness of tint, such as colours assu characteristic of his manner--the shadows never so dark that a black or blue cannot tell firmly in the midst of them; with the total absence of all harshness, frorounds, or assu fro hues As he has a ht, so he has an accuation of cold--every coreat principles of breadth When such is the plan upon which a work is laid doe can easily perceive hoerfully the smallest touch of positive colour will tell--as in the round will be heard Cuyp has this quality in a high degree, only on another scale--a uniformity of unbroken tone, and in ht touches, dealt out with the litter like soheavy, for by their fewness they require not the aid of black grounds to give the touched upon colours of the same quality, they avoid the appearance of harshness; in fact, the principles of these two great artists were the saht, his strong darks tell with great power, and Rehts become more forcible

I may here mention not only the breadth of Rembrandt's shadows, but their peculiar transparency and clearness, loose in the handling, and filled with air and space, whereas his lights are solid and fir not only the characteristics of nature in distinctiveness, but also in variety; and though we see always, on a general principle, light upon light and dark on a dark ground, yet we perceive inroads onists; hot and cold colours darting into each other's provinces This practice is also conducive to breadth, for tints of different hues hts, provided they are of equal strength with those adjoining them We may observe in Rembrandt--that those colours introduced into the shadows are more under the influence of indistinctness, while those in the light are brighter; this is quite a deviation from the Roman school, where the colours are pronounced so harshly as to set the influence of chiaro-scuro at defiance

Barry, in his sixth lecture, speaking of colours, says--”The happy effects of those sure and infallible principles of light and colour which Rubens had so successfully disseminated in the Netherlands, were soon found in every department of art Landscapes, portraits, drolls, and even the dullest andobjects of still life, possess irresistible charic of those principles Reht, notwithstanding, have seen, without going out of his country, many pictures of the Venetian school Besides, he was about thirty years younger than Rubens, whose works were a general object of study when Re himself But, however it be, there is no doubt, for the colouring and chiaro-scuro, Rembrandt is one of thecan exceed the beauty, freshness, and vigour of his tints They have the sah relish, and sapidity as those of titian Indeed, they have the closest reseione most in view There is identically the sa shadows and low deep tones; and his chiaro-scuro, though sometimes too artificial, is yet often (particularly in contrasted subjects) productive of the h we recognise the saione and titian, yet there is a suppleness and lifelike character in his flesh unlike either, both fro, and also his hot and cold tints being less blended”

The late Sir David Wilkie, in one of his letters, speaking of the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, says--”I do not wonder at the i you in Rorossed for a time every other pursuit One of the last remarks he made to me indicated his extreht, had, with Reard to colours, further than any of the old her qualities of colour and chiaro-scuro, Reynolds comes nearer to Rembrandt than any other artist who has succeeded hi of Gainsborough, observes--”We et, whilst we are on this subject, to ht, which confirreat affection to his art, since he could not areeable to himself I am, indeed, eous and i to an artist, for by this reat and beautiful in nature By candlelight, not only objects appear reater breadth of light and shadow, as well as having a greater breadth and uniforher style, and even the flesh seement is to direct us in the use to be made of this method of study; but the eous I have often iio, though I do not know that they painted by night, for froht

But I am more assured that whoever attentively studies the first and best manner of Guercino will be convinced that he either painted by this light, or forio ht it is ireat breadth, yet his lights have ed, as it were, with the coolness of low of this property, or, as Reynolds re into the room” The Italian pictures of Vandyke have much of this phosphorescent character--whereas ht appearance With regard to Reulated the entire scheme both of his chiaro-scuro and colour, on this foundation: his ht subjects, sho ht pictures, from the warmth of colour and breadth of shadow, proclaim the source from which he derived the cause of their brilliancy and force Froed with yellow, the half-tone partakes of the sarey tones This conduct conveys an e over the ht subjects it is not so; the light being often comparatively cool, is allowed to extend its influence to the secondary lights, and then, as it subsides into the shadow, is led in by the dark being lighted up by touches of red and brown; thus the light touches in the dark are wario we often find the shadows ht and secondary being h comparatively cool, to pass into the shadoithout a few touches of warm colour; this was the practice of Rubens, to enrich, as it were, ”the debateable land” When this principle of painting candlelight subjects fell into the hands of his pupils, the hared For exastraten, his pupil, instructed Schalcken, as did also Gerard Dow; but the candlelight pieces of Schalcken are hot and foxy, without any redeeht, he placed his sitter in a dark roo a hole cut through the door to coave exactly e see in such cases--a red, dull treatment of colour We know these facts by an anecdote told of Willia wished to sit to hiht pieces, wished it painted under that effect

The painter placed a light in his Majesty's hand, and retired into the outer roo's hand, but being unwilling to disturb the artist, the King held on, while the painter, intent on his work, proceeded without noticing it Many of our English artists paint by gaslight; but the tones of the flesh are not benefited, gas shedding a white cool light co by candlelight originated neither with Reh; in fact, we find that all academies, from the tiht, both for the purposes of drawing and painting But these effects generally ree of without the walls, the figure alone being considered, without reference to the background Tintoret was one of the first to apply the principles to his practice Fuseli, speaking of chiaro-scuro, says--”The nocturnal studies of Tintoret, froroups, have been celebrated; those prepared in wax or clay he arranged, raised, suspended, to produce , and effect It was thence he acquired that decision of chiaro-scuro, unknown to ht, by which he divided his bodies, and those wings of obscurity and light by which he separated the groups of his coh the mellowness of his eye nearly always instructed hi that partook of both, as the extreround or the scenery The general rapidity of his process, by which he baffled his competitors, and often overwhelmed himself, did not, indeed, always permit him to attend deliberately to this principle, and often hurried hihts turned breadth into mannered or insipid flatness; and in the shadows into a total extinction of parts Of all this he has in the schools of San Rollo and Marco given the most unquestionable instances--'The Resurrection of Christ,' and 'The Massacre of the Innocents,' comprehend every charm by which chiaro-scuro fascinates its votaries In the vision, den melts into deep but pellucid shade, itself sent or reflected by celestial splendour and angelic hues; whilst in the infant ht and agitated gloom dash horror on the astonished eye”

Rembrandt, like Tintoret, never destroyed the effective character of his chiaro-scuro by the addition of his colour, but eneral character of the subject; hence that undisturbed and engulphing breadth which pervades his works Fuseli, in the sa considered as the ”orna several of the pictures of titian, as proofs of his grand and solemn specimens of colour, he thus proceeds--”But perhaps it is not to titian, but to Tintoret and Paul Cagliari, that the debaucheries of colour, and blind sub flowers to no purpose, are ascribed Let us select from Tintoret's most extensive work in the Scuola of San Rocco, the ed masterpiece--'The Crucifixion,' and compare its tone with that of Rubens and Rembrandt of the same subject What ilance over the immense scenery of that work? a whole whose nu, eneral fearful silence hushes all around the central figure of the Saviour suspended on the cross, his fainting roup of roup of colours that less irief itself; a scale of tones for which even titian offers me no parallel--yet all equally overcast by the lurid tone that stains the whole, and like a s in the sickly air Whatever inequality or dereliction of feeling, whatever improprieties of commonplace, of local and antique costume, the master's rapidity adreat, all vanish in the pohich cole point, and we do not detect them till we recover from our terror”

The picture of Rubens which we oppose to Tintoret was painted for the Church of St Walburgha, at Antwerp, after his return from Italy, and has been minutely described and as exquisitely criticised by Reynolds: ”Christ,” he says, ”is nailed to the cross, with a nu the the cross obliquely from one corner of the picture to the other, is finely conceived, so in the manner of Tintoret” So far Reynolds ”In Tintoret,” says Fuseli, ”it is the cross of one of the criminals they attempt to raise, who casts his eye on Christ, already raised The body of Christ is the grandest, in my opinion, that Rubens ever painted; it seems to be imitated from the Torso of Apollonius, and that of the Laocoon How far it be characteristic of Christ, or correspondent with the situation, I shall not here inquire;tone of the whole--and of this the criticisrey and ochry balance Would so great a ot this master-key if he had found it in the picture? The fact is, the picture has no other than the painter's usual tone Rubens caic of his pencil changed the horrors of Golgotha to an enchanted garden and clusters of flowers Reh on a smaller scale of size and composition, concentrated the treht It breaks on the body of Christ, shi+vers down his lilooiven with all the eloquence Fuseli was so well able to utter; but it displays, also, a severe castigation on those ould class Tintoret and Paul Veronese in the catalogue of ornamental painters

The observations which seem to have kindled his wrath are to be found in Sir Joshua's fourth lecture, in which he says--”Tintoret, Paul Veronese, and others of the Venetian school, seem to have painted with no other purpose than to be admired for their skill and experience in the , and to her style requires its followers to conceal”

But, to understand the ard to the two pictures Fuseli brings into comparison with the Venetian, both are described in Reynolds' Tour to Flanders and Holland

Sir Joshua certainly criticizes the Rubens correctly with regard to colouring; but sentiment it has none The Reh one of his early pictures, it is very grand and striking Of it Reynolds reht Rembrandts, the chief merit of which consists in his peculiarity ofto that little a wonderful brilliancy The colouring of Christ in the elevation of the cross cannot be exceeded--it is exactly the tint of Vandyke's 'Susanna,'

in the other rooround of this picture has been repainted, or the white horse, which was certainly intended to htness, at present the Christthe opinions of these two great artists in contact, the truth is elicited, that the tone of colour hasthe sentiment and pathos of the picture, and Reree In the infancy of the arts, when practised by rude nations, we find harsh and bright colours predohter the more effective on the uneducated eye; and it is only when the arts advance towards perfection that a subdued tone of colour is demanded as most compatible with refinement Colour, both as an i the character of his subject, seems always to have been upper, it is true, is open to censure, but his colour will stand the ation, and will always appear more transcendent the h Holland, mentions a picture by Ree--”a study of a Susanna, for the picture by Rembrandt which is in my possession: it is nearly the sa This is the third study I have seen for this figure--I have one myself, and the third was in the possession of the late Mr Blackwood In the drahich he ; in the picture, she is on her legs, but leaning forward It appears extraordinary that Rembrandt should have taken so ly and ill-favoured a figure; but his attention was principally directed to the colouring and effect, in which it ree of excellence” The small picture in the National Gallery is a study of the sa principle with Rea, in the sanated the three qualifications for landscape painting, as contained in one--viz, _breadth_ The tones of colour hich Reree appropriate and conducive to the sentiment, whether within the ”solereat supernatural event As most of his historical subjects are froht of those qualities which take thee of every-day occurrences I shall h one is sufficient for a master-key to thes,” in the Queen's Collection, the solemnity is carried to the utmost extent, like the ht shed over the scene seems to descend from the lurid rays of the star that stood over the place of the nativity, and guided thereatest breadth, he has placed the Virgin and child in the corner of the picture, and lon at the base, with the sa that impelled Shakspere, in his Constance, to utter, ”Here is s come bow to it” The presentation of incense and precious perfui, not only reround, but even Joseph is represented as wrapt in thought, and viewing fro of this work is in accordance with this feeling--subdued, except in the smallest portions of each hue, and these shi+ne out like sparkling of jewels in a dark recess

The other work I would particularize is, ”The Salutation of the Virgin,”