WHEATFIELDS. By Jacob van Ruisdael
The pictures by Rembrandt and his school are the chief glories of the Museum—no less than sixteen pictures are attributed to his hand. In an earlier number of The Mentor, Rembrandt’s three styles have been clearly distinguished. It is to the first or “gray” period that the “Portrait of a Man” belongs, and most admirably does it represent the class. “The Man with a Steel Gorget” falls in the middle or “golden” period. The greater part of the pictures belong to the late period—the years in which fortune no longer smiled, and sorrow succeeded sorrow. The portrait of Titus, his son, while still a lad, must have come early in this period, and before troubles thickened. A few years later comes the “Old Woman Cutting Her Nails,” hailed by many as the finest of the Museum’s Rembrandts, but different from anything else by him there. Hanging beside it is the “Lady with a Pink”—a portrait with an overpowering sense of reserve force. What luminous shadows and what living color it has! So also with its companion piece, though to a lesser degree. Compare them with the two portraits of men in the Dutch Room at the other end of the building. They too come in the late period. What tremendous dignity and poise show forth from these canvases!
Gerard Dou (dow) worked under Rembrandt in the “gray” period. The small, crisp “Portrait of the Artist” shows his change of style after leaving the studio. Dou trimmed his sails to catch the wind of fashion, a thing that Rembrandt refused to do. Another pupil, Nicolaes Maes, worked with Rembrandt during the “golden” period. He gives us a brilliant piece of color, a “Young Girl Peeling Apples,” in which the glow of red warms all the panel. Aert de Gelder portrays a sturdy “Dutch Admiral,” and there is one of the far-stretching Dutch landscapes by Philip de Koninck.
A VISIT TO THE NURSERY. By Gabriel Metsu
Dutch Masters
The “Little Masters of Holland” are present in strength. Metsu’s “Visit to the Nursery,” which came from the Morgan Collection, is his masterpiece. It is an intimate glimpse of home life that attracts everyone, and is painted with a mastery that strengthens its human appeal. But Metsu is far surpassed by Vermeer. Less than two score of his pictures are known; the Metropolitan Museum already owns two of them, and of these, the “Young Woman with a Water-Jug,” is of first rank.
The landscape men should not be overlooked. Cuyp (koip) has three of his cattle pictures, filled with sunlight; and Hobbema, one of the rarest-met of the Dutchmen, has a view of a Dutch village. “Wheatfields,” by Jacob van Ruisdael (rize´-dale), shows him at the summit of his powers. It is superior to anything by him to be found in the European collections. With its low-lying horizon and broad sky, it is typical of the best in the Dutch treatment of landscape.
