THE ELEVATION OF THE CROSS
(1633)
CHAPTER VI
TIME OF PROSPERITY (1634-1642)
At the one hundred and twenty-nine pictures produced during the succeeding nine years I can only glance hastily. There are eighteen works dated 1634, and, no less than seven of them are, or are called, "Portraits of Himself." One at the Louvre [No. 2553], and two at Berlin [Nos. 808 and 810], are unmistakably so, and one now in America, a companion to a "Portrait of Saskia," would seem to be; but the "Portrait of Rembrandt as an Officer," at the Hague [No. 149], which, however, bears no date, and one in a helmet, at Cassel [No. 215], bear only the most general resemblance to him. He furthermore painted a portrait of "Saskia disguised as Flora," called "The Jewish Bride," in the Hermitage at St Petersburg [No. 812], a very similar picture in the collection of M. Schloss, Paris, and a third at Cassel [No. 214]. There are eight dated portraits, and one probably belonging to that year. Among the portraits are the pair to the one of "Dr Tulp," and two other pairs, "Martin Daey" and "Machteld van Doorn," his wife, belonging to Baron Gustave de Rothschild, and "The Minister Alenson" and "His Wife," belonging to M. Schneider, Paris, a "Portrait of Himself in a Cuirass," in the Wallace collection, one of "A Young Girl," at Bridgewater House, and the "Old Lady," in the National Gallery [No. 775]. There are also four subjects. A replica of "The Descent from the Cross," formerly in the Cassel Gallery, but removed by Napoleon I. to Malmaison, whence it passed to the Hermitage [No. 800]. It is of interest historically as showing that high as Rembrandt's reputation stood at the time, he had leisure enough to paint this large picture, without any immediate purchaser in prospect, and it remained in fact on his hands until the enforced sale in 1656. A second, also in the Hermitage [No. 801], is "The Incredulity of St Thomas," and a third, in the Prado at Madrid [No. 1544], has been called both "Queen Artemisia receiving the Ashes of Mausolus" and "Cleopatra at her Toilet." There is also a doubtful "Tobias restoring his Father's Sight," in the collection of Duc d'Arenberg at Brussels, but it is a matter of doubt whether the last figure of the date is 4 or 6. Lastly, there is an undated "Prodigal Son," belonging to the executors of the late Sir F. Cook, which, in spite of the signature, must also be regarded as dubious.
There are only two "Portraits of Himself" dated 1635, and one of "Saskia," but there are two others attributed to about that time, and, in addition, two large and highly finished pictures, supposed to represent "Rembrandt and Saskia," both signed Rembrandt, and believed to have been painted in or near that year. The one at Dresden [No. 1559], contains, without doubt, portraits of the painter and his wife (see [illustration, p. 24]). The other, at Buckingham Palace, long known as "The Burgomaster Pancras and his Wife," is less certain.
[National Gallery, London
PORTRAIT OF AN OLD WOMAN
(1634)