One, or perhaps both of these, may belong to the following year, 1657, which is otherwise lacking in important works, though it includes the "Portrait of Catrina Hoogh," known as "The Lady with the Parrot," belonging to Lord Penrhyn; "The Adoration of the Magi," at Buckingham Palace; a "Portrait of an Old Woman," belonging to M. Rodolphe Kann; and one, at Dresden [No. 1569], of "A Man sketching in a Book." It may also include the "Rabbi," in the National Gallery [No. 190], a "Portrait of a Boy," at Belvoir Castle, and "An Angel," a mere fragment of a larger picture, belonging to Mr Sellar.
[Royal Museum, Berlin
JOHN THE BAPTIST PREACHING
(1656)
1658 would seem to have been still more disastrous. Of three signed pictures, one is a "Portrait of Himself," in the collection of the Earl of Ilchester; one, "An Old Woman cutting her Nails," belonging to M. Rodolphe Kann, is undoubtedly a model; and only the "Young Man," in the Louvre [No. 2545], may be a portrait. Of the unsigned works of that time, two more are "Portraits of Himself," one belonging to Lord Ashburton, the other at Vienna [No. 1142], and one, also at Vienna [No. 1144], is probably a "Portrait of Titus," while two "Old Men," one of which is in the Pitti Palace [No. 12], are presumably models. The portrait, called "An Admiral," belonging to Mr Schaus of New York, and that of "Six," in the Six collection were, however, doubtless commissions. The subjects include one of Rembrandt's infrequent incursions into classical story in "Baucis and Philemon receiving Jupiter and Mercury," now belonging to Mr Yerkes of New York, a "Christ," in the possession of Count Orloff- Davidoff at St Petersburg, and Lord Wimborne's seated figure of "St Paul."
Few facts are more admirable in Rembrandt's checkered career than the noble struggle he maintained against misfortune and neglect. That he suffered there can be no doubt—the careworn face and whitening hair of the later portraits reveal it all too clearly,—but he stiffened his back and worked on undismayed.
Of 1659 there are six pictures fully dated, and two believed to have been, though in each the last figure of the date is missing. Both are "Portraits of Himself," one at Bridgewater House, and one at Cassel [No. 222], while a dated one, belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch, is a magnificent representation of the grave, strong face that had met and supported so much care. Three others are also portraits—"An Old Man," in the National Gallery [No. 243], the "Merchant," belonging to the Earl of Feversham, and "A Man in a Red Cloak," signed Rembran, in the collection of M. Maurice Kann at Paris. There are also two subject-pictures, both at Berlin, "Moses breaking the Tables of the Law" [No. 811], and "Jacob wrestling with the Angel" [No. 828].
[Amsterdam Gallery
THE SYNDICS OF THE DRAPERS
(1661)