No. 228. Jan Six.
Tobias and the Angel. By Hercules Seghers
(No. 266). The Flight into Egypt.
Although Rembrandt had a few such cultivated [pg 22] friends as those mentioned above, it was said of him by a contemporary German painter that “his art suffered by his predilection for the society of the vulgar.” It certainly would have been more profitable for Rembrandt if he had always portrayed people of position and wealth, but that his art suffered because he many times used beggers for models it would be impossible to show. An interesting series of tramps, peddlers and outcasts began with the beginning of his career as an etcher, and ended twenty years later with the production of one of his most popular plates, “Beggars Receiving Alms at the Door of a House,” (No. 233) a very freely handled, splendidly composed etching, in which surprisingly few lines judiciously placed do the work usually allotted to double their number. A little plate of less than [pg 23] four square inches, entitled “The Quacksalver,” (No. 139), strikes me as the masterpiece of this series. Although Van de Velde is supposed to have given Rembrandt the idea for his drawing, his genius made it his own in realism and movement, and in its beauties of line, color and texture. “An Old Woman Sleeping” (No. 129)), although scarcely to be included in this series, is another that has wonderful spontaneity. This is no posed model, but one who has actually fallen asleep over her book; Rembrandt sees her, and before her “forty winks” are over, she is immortalized, and probably she never knew it. About 1640 Rembrandt began etching landscapes. They are free and simple in composition and treatment and show even greater force and more suggestive power than those that he painted. Practically [pg 24] all of his two dozen landscape plates hold undisputed first rank. They always have and probably always will. In “Landscape with Trees, Farm-buildings and a Tower” (No. 244), the tower is “ruined” in the third state. A first state print at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts shows the tower in good preservation. One of these prints sold at auction not long ago for over $9,000. Another of the exceedingly satisfactory etchings in the series, one that has exercised a great influence on landscape etching all the world over, is “Omval” (No. 210). Its creator seemed fond of the fine old tree in this plate. He used it several times elsewhere. “Six's Bridge” (No. 209) which is almost pure outline, and the “Three Trees” (No. 205), with its great sweep of flat country, have a right to all the praise showered upon them. They, too, are masterpieces.
While Rembrandt's genius made itself manifest in his landscapes, it surely is absent from most of his animal drawings. We must remember that if he ever went outside of Holland it was for a few months to the east coast of England, and that the opportunity for studying any great variety of animals in either place was not great. His horses, asses, hogs, etc., improve as the years advance. The little dog with the collar of bells is well drawn. He, undoubtedly, was a member of the family.
