The age in which Rembrandt lived cared little for personalities. There were no newspapers to record his doings, and no one of his contemporaries cared enough about it to write down much about his life and work. For these reasons, the world has never known much about Rembrandt, the man. We know that he was light-hearted, headstrong and extravagant. We know that he was neglected and died poor and feeble. But we know little more than this, although of late more reliable information concerning the life of this great painter has been found.
A man’s faults are usually remembered when his virtues are forgotten. For years it pleased biographers to represent Rembrandt as a ne’er-do-well artist, who could not take advantage of his opportunities. We know now, however, that his faults were very human ones, and that his merits greatly overbalanced them.
As a boy the artist was not an industrious scholar. He looked upon reading and writing as rather troublesome and hardly worth the labor involved in learning them. Later he worked hard at his chosen career, and the great number of pictures that he painted is sufficient evidence that he was by no means lazy.
Probably Rembrandt’s greatest fault was his extravagance. Many a man can endure adversity with courage; success is sometimes more difficult to bear. Hard luck often brings out the best in a man; success may destroy it. Rembrandt was no exception. He spent his money freely, and like the grasshopper of the fable, sang happily through the summer, with no thought of the cold to come.
He liked to attend sales of works of art, and he gladly paid huge sums for any pictures that caught his fancy. It is said that the dealers came very soon to know his rash and reckless methods and would push the prices far up, confident that Rembrandt would meet them. At the same time, the artist liked to buy expensive jewels for his wife. He loved Saskia devotedly, and he wanted her to have everything of the finest. This manner of open-handed living naturally played havoc with his finances.
When Saskia died Rembrandt was heartbroken. His customers fell off and many troubles overwhelmed him. His friends helped him as much as possible, but money ran through his hands like water through a sieve, and he could not seem to control his expenditures. Then later the death of his faithful Hendrickje was the last blow to his happiness. For a few years Rembrandt lingered, and then he too passed into the great silence.
It is true that many of Rembrandt’s troubles were self-inflicted: but he suffered enough to pay for his faults. At any rate it is better to remember him as a great genius and a man worthy of respect and honor.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 20, SERIAL No. 120
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
