Great Masters in Painting: Rembrandt van Rijn Part 6

Two more pictures were completed for the Stathouder in 1639, a "Resurrection" [No. 329], signed and dated, and an "Entombment" [No.

330], unsigned, now with the others at Munich. The only other subject treated that year, if the date and signature are genuine, which M.

Michel doubts, was "The Good Samaritan" dressing the wounds of the injured man, in the collection of M. Jules Porges, for "The Slaughter-house," belonging to Herr Georg Rath, is a study rather than a picture; and the "Man with the Bittern" at Dresden [No. 1561] as much a portrait as a study. Other portraits are the so-called "Lady of Utrecht," lent by the family Van Weede van Dykveld to the Amsterdam Museum; that of "Alotte Adriaans," belonging to the executors of the late Sir F. Cook, a life-sized full-length figure of "A Man," at Ca.s.sel [No. 217], at one time erroneously called "Burgomaster Six," and a so-called "Portrait of Rembrandt's Mother," at Vienna [No. 1141].

There are six pictures dated 1640--four subjects and two portraits--one of himself in the National Gallery [No. 672], (_see_ ill., p. 28), and the famous one of "Paul Doomer," better known as "The Gilder," now in the possession of Mr Havemeyer of New York. The subjects include the Duke of Westminster's beautiful "Salutation" and the "Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael," in the Victoria and Albert Museum, in both of which, however, the concentration of light on a small portion is so intense as to suggest the lime-light of a theatre; the charming version of "The Holy Family" in the Louvre [No. 2542], known as "The House of the Carpenter," where the contrasting light and shade, though equally marked, are reasonably brought about; and the mysterious allegory, in the Boymans Museum at Rotterdam [No. 238], known as "The Concord of the Country," containing a rather confused ma.s.s of detail and incident, all obviously meaning something, but what no one can quite decide.

Other pictures supposed to have been painted about the same time are a "Good Samaritan"; a "Saving of Moses," in which the figures play a part quite subordinate to the landscape; three pure landscapes, "An Effect of Storm," at Brunswick [No. 236], one in the Wallace collection; a study of "Dead Peac.o.c.ks," belonging to Mr W. C. Cartwright; and several portraits, the most noteworthy of which is the one of "Elizabeth Bas" in the Ryksmuseum at Amsterdam [No. 249].

Six pictures again bear the date 1641, and all are portraits except the great "Offering of Manoah and his Wife," at Dresden [No. 1563], wherein we are distressed once more by the artist's unfortunate conception of an angelic being. Two of the portraits form a pair now widely sundered, the admirable "Lady with the Fan" being at Buckingham Palace, while her husband has strayed away to Brussels [No. 397]. The portrait of "The Minister Anslo"--a marvel of life-like expression and superb painting--is a sad example of art treasures which have been allowed to leave England of late years, having pa.s.sed from Lady Ashburnham to Berlin. The "Portrait of Anna Vymer," on the other hand, the mother of Burgomaster Six, is one of a very few, if it be not the only one, which is still in the possession of the descendants of the subject. The remaining picture is a portrait of a Young Woman, called "Saskia," at Dresden [No. 1562].

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_Amsterdam Gallery_

PORTRAIT OF ELIZABETH BAS

(ABOUT 1640)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_Berlin_

ANSLO CONSOLING A WIDOW

(1641)]

The dated pictures of 1642 are few. There is one subject in the Hermitage [No. 1777] long known as "The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau," but now recorded in the catalogue as "The Reconciliation of David and Absalom"; while the "Christ taken from the Cross," in the National Gallery [No. 43], may belong to the same year, since it is a sketch probably made for the etching which was certainly executed then. There are also four portraits: one of "A Rabbi," belonging to M. Jules Porges of Paris; Lord Iveagh's "Portrait of a Woman"; Mrs Alfred Morrison's "Portrait of Dr Bonus"; and "An Old Man," at Buda-Pesth [No.

235].

This limited production was probably due to the fact that a large share of his time must have been taken up by his largest and most famous work, "The Sortie of the Company of Francis Banning Cocq," for many years known as "The Night-watch," because time and careless usage had so blackened it that the original illumination was nearly obscured, and the figures appeared to be dimly visible by artificial light. The careful restoration by M. Hopman has, of late years, altered all this, and that the sortie is taking place by daylight, the condensed, highly localised daylight of Rembrandt, to be sure, has been established beyond cavil.

One would have supposed that such devoted art-patrons as the Dutch people of that time, would have hailed with delight the creation of such a masterpiece by one of themselves, and would have showered praises and commissions upon its creator. The very contrary seems to have been the fact; nor is the reason far to seek.

Holland at that time abounded in Guilds and Companies, civil and military, Boards of Management of this or that Hospital or charitable Inst.i.tution, and a perfect craze for being painted in groups animated one and all. The galleries are full of these "Doelen" and "Regent"

pictures by great and little masters, and dreary objects many of them are. Each member subscribed his share, and each expected to get his money's-worth; so the painter was expected to distribute his light and his positions with an impartial hand, and a comically stiff and formal collection of effigies was often the result.

To all such considerations Rembrandt was gloriously indifferent. He was painting a picture of an event in real life, and he meant it to be a picture and alive, not a mere row of wax figures in a booth; and when he had finished, the subscribers cried aloud in wrath and consternation.

And indeed it is difficult not to sympathise with the poor amateur soldiers who had paid to be painted, not to be immortalised. Even if they could have known, they would have cared very little for the fact that their picture was to rank in after years among the most famous in the world, since their worthy citizen-faces were not to be discerned in it, and no one would care to read the names which, failing to move the domineering painter, they caused to be inscribed upon an escutcheon in the background so that they might get some return for their florins.

They had their revenge, however, after a kind, for they left it to blacken with dirt and smoke; and when their descendants removed it from the Doelen to the Hotel de Ville they cut it down ruthlessly on either hand to make it fit a smaller s.p.a.ce, as a copy by Lundens in the National Gallery [No. 289] makes evident.

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_Buckingham Palace_

THE LADY WITH THE FAN

(1641)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_Brussels Gallery_

PORTRAIT OF A MAN

(1641)]

CHAPTER VII

YEARS OF DECLINE (1643-1658)

There is still no lack of portraits in 1643. There are two pairs, "The Gentleman with the Hawk," and "The Lady with the Fan," at Grosvenor House, which, however, Dr Bode and M. Michel decline to admit among Rembrandt's works, and "The Dutch Admiral" and "His Wife," now in America. It is doubtful whether the "Old Woman weighing Money," at Dresden [No. 1564], ought to be included among the portraits; but there can be no question about the "Young Man in a Cap and Breastplate," in the same gallery [No. 1565], the "Old Woman," in the Hermitage [No.

807], called "Rembrandt's Mother," or the "Man," in the collection of Mr Armour. The other "Old Man," belonging to Mr Schloss of Paris, is probably only a study; and the "Portrait of a Man," incorrectly called Six, in the collection of Morris K. Jessup of New York, is but conjecturally a work of this year. There are three portraits of himself: one at Weimar, one belonging to Prince Henri of the Pays Bas, one, signed but undated, at Carlsruhe [No. 238]; and there is a portrait, called Saskia, at Berlin [No. 812]. The only signed subject of the year is the "Bathsheba at her Toilet," in the Steengracht collection at the Hague; but "The Holy Family," at Downton, was painted about that time.

The next year has very small results to show, and might, taken by itself, support the belief in the sudden unpopularity of Rembrandt were there not five other years for which we can now find only five pictures, and several with fewer. All the five of 1644 are signed. Three are portraits: Captain Holford's "Man with a Sword," Earl Cowper's "Young Man," and the fancifully named "Constable of Bourbon," in the collection of Herr Thieme at Leipzig. There is one subject-picture, "The Woman taken in Adultery," painted for Jan Six, and now in the National Gallery [No. 45]. Another of the same subject, in the possession of Consul Weber at Hamburg, bears, according to M. Michel, a forged signature, and is regarded by him as very doubtful.

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_National Gallery, London_

THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY

(1644)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_Dulwich Gallery_

A GIRL AT A WINDOW

(1645)]

There are four subject-pictures dated 1645. First and foremost is "The Holy Family," in the Hermitage [No. 796]. Fine also is "The Tribute Money," belonging to Mr Beaumont, though much more summarily handled.

The "Daniel's Vision," at Berlin [No. 806], is more careful in treatment, but the companion picture, "Tobias' Wife with the Goat" [No.

805], is little more than a sketch. At Berlin, also, are two of the five dated portraits of that year, one of "A Rabbi," in the Museum [No.

828=A=], and one of "J. C. Sylvius," in the collection of Herr von Carstangen. The Hermitage has one portrait [No. 820], called at one time "Mana.s.seh ben Israel." A "Portrait of a Young Girl," in the Dulwich Gallery [No. 206], and "An Orphan Girl of Amsterdam," now in the United States, are probably works painted for the purpose of study, rather than portraits; and the same remark applies to the "Portrait of Himself,"

at Buckingham Palace, which, though the last figure of the date is wanting, was, in all likelihood, a work of that year.

The "Portrait of a Lady," in the collection of Captain Holford; the little sketch of "An Old Man Seated," belonging to the executors of the late Sir F. Cook, and "An Old Man," at Dresden [No. 1571], are undated portraits of about this time; while the "Man reading by a Window," in the Carlsberg Glyptotek at Copenhagen, if it be really a Rembrandt, which is doubtful, is an undated subject. There are, furthermore, two landscapes, both undated, one at Oldenburg [No. 169], and one in the collection of Mme. Lacroix at Paris.

Another landscape, "A Winter Scene," at Ca.s.sel [No. 219], is dated 1646, as is a "Portrait of a Young Man," belonging to Mr Humphry Ward. There are also four subject-pictures bearing the same date, two of "The Adoration of the Shepherds," one in the National Gallery [No. 47], painted originally for Six, and one at Munich [No. 331], differing entirely in arrangement; one of "Christ bound to the Column," in the collection of Herr von Carstangen at Berlin; and the "Holy Family,"

called "The Woodchopper," at Ca.s.sel [No. 218].

1647 is inscribed on only five pictures. Two are the portraits called "Nicholas Berchem," and "His Wife," at Grosvenor House, and a small one of "An Old Man," at Leeuwarden, in the collection of Baron van Harinxma.

A fourth of "Dr Bonus," in the Six collection, is not dated, but as it exactly resembles the etching of that year, it is, with much reason, attributed to it. There is only one subject, "Susannah and the Elders,"

in the Berlin Gallery [No. 828=E=]. Two undated studies also belong to about that time, a small head and shoulders of "Susannah," belonging to M. Leon Bonnat of Paris, and the "Woman bathing," at the Louvre [No.

2550]. A large picture of "Joseph's Coat," in the collection of the Earl of Derby, is one of the most ungraceful and undignified spectacles that even Rembrandt's stern realism ever produced. Enchanting, on the other hand, in its truth and delicacy is the "The Shepherds reposing at Night," in the National Gallery of Ireland, with its contrasted effects of firelight and moonlit night.

No known portrait bears the date 1648, though one of "A Young Painter with Papers and Crayon," signed Rembrandt 164--, is believed to belong to about that year. There are, however, four dated subject-pictures: two at the Louvre--"Christ at Emmaus" [No. 2539], and "The Good Samaritan"

[No. 2537],--one, "Hannah teaching the Infant Samuel to read," at Bridgewater House, and one, a different version of "Christ at Emmaus,"

at Copenhagen [No. 292]. A small picture of "Christ on the Cross," in the collection of Herr Carl Hollitscher at Berlin, was also probably painted about this time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: [_Royal Museum, Berlin_

PORTRAIT OF A RABBI

(1645)]