Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/394

Rh 376 REMBRANDT Beyond the ordinary claims of art, it commands our atten- tion from the grand conception of the painter who here as in other pictures and etchings has invested Christ with a majestic dignity which recalls Leonardo and no other. A similar lofty ideal is to be found in his various renderings of the Pilgrims at Emmaus, notably in the Louvre picture of 1648, in which, as Mrs Jameson says, "he returns to those first spiritual principles which were always the dowry of ancient art. Here we have before us a countenance pale and tender, meek and lowly of heart, adorned only with holiness and a glorified life." From the same year we have the Good Samaritan of the Louvre, the story being told with intense pathos. The helpless suffering of the wounded man, the curiosity of the boy on tiptoe, the excited faces at the upper window, are all conveyed with masterly skill. In these two last pictures we find a broader touch and freer handling, while the tones pass into a dull yellow and brown with a marked predilection for deep rich red. Whether it was that this scheme of colour found no favour with the Amsterdamers, who, as Hoogstraten tells us, could not understand the Sortie, it seems certain that Rembrandt was not invited to take any leading part in the celebration of the congress of Westphalia of this year (1648), a year famous in Dutch history for the European declaration of the independence of Holland, and in Dutch art as the subject of Terburg's picture in the National Gallery and of Van der Heist's famous Banquet of the Civic Guard at Amsterdam. Rembrandt touched no side of art without setting his mark on it, whether in still life, as in his dead birds or the Slaughtered Ox of the Louvre, or in his drawings of elephants and lions, all of which are instinct with life. But at this period of his career we come upon a branch of his art on which he left, both in etching and in painting, the stamp of his genius, viz., landscape. Roeland Roghman, but ten years his senior, evidently influenced his style, for the resemblance between their works is so great that, as at Cassel, there has been confusion of authorship. Hercules Seghers also was much appreciated by Rembrandt, for at his sale eight pictures by this master figure in the inven- tory, and Vosmaer discovered that Rembrandt had worked on a plate by Seghers and had added figures to an etched Flight into Egypt. The earliest pure landscape known to us from Rembrandt's hand is the Winter Scene of Cassel (1646), silvery and delicate. As a rule in his painted landscape he aims at grandeur and poetical effect, as in the Repose of the Holy Family of 1647 (till recently called the Gipsies), a moonlight effect, clear even in the shadows. The Canal of Lord Lansdowne, and the Mountain Landscape with the Approaching Storm, the sun shining out behind the heavy clouds, are both conceived and executed in this spirit. A similar poetical vein runs through the Castle on the Hill of Cassel, in which the beams of the setting sun strike on the castle while the valley is sunk in the shades of approaching night. More powerful still is the weird effect of Lord Lansdowne's Windmill, with its glow of light and darkening shadows. In all these pictures light with its magical influences is the theme of the poet- painter. From the number of landscapes by himself in the inventory of his sale, it would appear that these grand works were not appreciated by his contemporaries. The last of the landscape series dates from 1655 or 1656, the close of the middle age or manhood of Rembrandt, a period of splendid power. In the Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife of 1654 we have great dramatic vigour and perfect mastery of expression, while the brilliant colour and glowing effect of light and shade attest his strength. To this period also belongs the great portrait of himself in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. But evil days were at hand. The long-continued wars and civil troubles had worn out the country. Trade anc commerce languished, and in Amsterdam hundreds of houses were empty. Rembrandt's brothers had suffered, and money was scarce. His own and doubtless Saskia's means were tied up in his house and in his large collection of valuable pictures, and we find Rembrandt borrowing con- siderable sums of money on the security of his house to keep things going. Perhaps, as Bode suggests, this was the reason of his extraordinary activity at this time. Then, unfortunately, in this year of 1654, we find Rembrandt involved in the scandal of having a child by his servant Hendrickie Jaghers or Stoffels, as appears by the books of the Reformed Church at Amsterdam. He recognized the child and gave it the name of Cornelia after his much- loved mother, but there is no proof that he married the mother, and the probability is against such a marriage, as the provisions of Saskia's will would in that case have come into force, and her fortune would have passed at once to her son Titus. Hendrickie seems to have continued to live with him, for we find her claiming a chest as her property at his sale in 1658. Doubtless she is the peasant girl of Rasdorf to whom Houbraken says Rembrandt was married. Sad as the story is, Hendrickie has an interest for us. Bode asserts that in his art there was always a woman in close relationship to Rembrandt and appearing in his work his mother, his sister, and then Saskia. Are there any traces of Hendrickie ? What if the little servant maid of ten years, painted about 1645 (Dulwich Gallery), and again in the Demidoff picture of the same year, in which the girl is painted in the red dress of a Dutch orphan, in both cases smiling and leaning over a window, were the maidservant of his house in 1654? The ages would correspond. Bode suggests that the beautiful por- trait of the Lady in the Salon Carre 1 of the Louvre and the Amor and Cupid of the same gallery may represent Hendrickie and her child. Both pictures belong to this date, and by their treatment are removed from the category of Rembrandt's usual portraits. But if this is conjecture, we get nearer to fact when we look at the picture exhibited at Burlington House in 1883 to which tradition has attached the name of "Rembrandt's Mistress." At a glance one can see that it is not the mere head of a model, as she lies in bed raising herself to put aside a curtain as if she heard a well-known footstep. It is clearly a woman in whom Rembrandt had a personal interest. The date is clearly 165, the fourth figure being illegible ; but the brilliant carnations and masterly touch connect it with the Potiphar's Wife of 1654 and the Jaghers period. It is painful to turn from this attempt to trace the life of Rembrandt in his work to the sadder side of the story. In 1656 his financial affairs became more involved, and the Orphans' Chamber transferred the house and ground to Titus, though Rembrandt was still allowed to take charge of Saskia's estate. Nothing, how- ever, could avert the ruin of the painter, who was declared bankrupt in July 1656, an inventory of all his property being ordered by the Insolvency Chamber. The first rale took place in 1657 in the Keizerskroon hotel, Thomas Jacobz Haring, a well-known name in connexion with Rembrandt's art, being auctioneer; and the second, at which the larger part of the etchings and drawings were disposed of, in 1658 "collected by Rembrandt himself with much love and care," says the catalogue. The sum realized, under 5000 guilders, was but a fraction of their value. The time was unfavourable over the whole of Europe for such sales, the renowned collection of Charles I. of England having brought but a comparatively small sum in 1653. Driven thus from his house, stripped of everything he possessed even to his table linen, Rembrandt took a modest lodging in the same Keizerskroon hostelry