Rembrandt / A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter with Introduction and Interpretation

by Estelle M. Hurll

PREFACE

The choice of pictures for this collection has been made with the object of familiarizing the student with works fairly representative of Rembrandt's art in portraiture and Biblical illustration, landscape and genre study, in painting and etching. Admirers of the Dutch master may miss some well-known pictures. For obvious reasons the Lecture in Anatomy is deemed unsuitable for this place, and the Hundred Guilder Print contains too many figures to be reproduced here clearly. The Syndics of the Cloth Guild and the print of Christ Preaching will compensate for these omissions, and show Rembrandt at his best, both with brush and burin.

There are perhaps no paintings in the world more difficult to reproduce satisfactorily in black and white than those of Rembrandt. His marvelous effects of chiaroscuro leave in darkness portions of the composition, which appear in the photograph as unintelligible blurs. With these difficulties to meet, great pains have been taken to select for the reproductions of this book the best photographs made direct from the original paintings. A comparative study of the available material has resulted in making use of an almost equal number from Messrs. Hanfstaengl & Co. and Messrs. Braun & Cie.

In reproducing the etchings the publishers have been most fortunate in being able to use for the purpose original prints in the Harvey D. Parker Collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

ESTELLE M. HURLL.

New Bedford, Mass.

November, 1899.

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CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES

[Portrait of Rembrandt. Painted by himself.]				[Frontispiece.]
[From Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie.]
				PAGE
[INTRODUCTION]
	I.		[On Rembrandt's Character as an Artist]	[vii]
	II.		[On Books of Reference]	[xi]
	III.		[Historical Directory of the Pictures of this Collection]	[xiii]
	IV.		[Outline Table of the Principal Events in Rembrandt's Life]	[xiv]
	V.		[Some of Rembrandt's Famous Contemporaries in Holland]	[xv]
	VI.		[Foreign Contemporary Painters]	[xvii]
I.			[JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL]	[1]
			[Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl]	[3]
II.			[ISRAEL BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH]	[7]
			[Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl]	[11]
III.			[THE ANGEL RAPHAEL LEAVING THE FAMILY OF TOBIT]	[13]
			[Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie]	[15]
IV.			[THE RAT KILLER]	[19]
			[Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston]	[20]
V.			[THE PHILOSOPHER IN MEDITATION]	[25]
			[Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie]	[29]
VI.			[THE GOOD SAMARITAN]	[31]
			[Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston]	[33]
VII.			[THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE]	[37]
			[Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl]	[38]
VIII.			[CHRIST PREACHING]	[43]
			[Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston]	[44]
IX.			[CHRIST AT EMMAUS]	[49]
			[Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie]	[53]
X.			[PORTRAIT OF SASKIA]	[55]
			[Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl]	[59]
XI.			[THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD]	[61]
			[Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie]	[62]
XII.			[PORTRAIT OF JAN SIX]	[67]
			[Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston]	[68]
XIII.			[PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN]	[73]
			[Picture from Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie]	[77]
XIV.			[THE SYNDICS OF THE CLOTH GUILD]	[79]
			[Picture from Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl]	[83]
XV.			[THE THREE TREES]	[85]
			[Picture from Original Etching in the Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston]	[86]
XVI.			[THE PORTRAIT OF REMBRANDT] ([See Frontispiece])	[91]
[PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS]				[95]

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INTRODUCTION