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. 828A], and one of "J. C. Sylvius," in the collection of Herr von Carstangen. The Hermitage has one portrait [No. 820], called at one time "Manasseh 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 Cassel [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 Cassel [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. 828E]. Two undated studies also belong to about that time, a small head and shoulders of "Susannah," belonging to M. Léon 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.
[Royal Museum, Berlin
PORTRAIT OF A RABBI
(1645)
