. Rembrandt : his life, his work, and his time. olden tones of Pilates mantle, which, with its glitter-ing embroidery of precious stones, produces an effect of extraordinarybrilliance. A work of very different character again attests the mastersversatility. This is the fine grisaille of 1656, The Preachingof John the Baptist, once the property of Jan Six. It wasbought by Cardinal Fesch for ^1,600 (40,000 francs), and nowbelongs to Lord Dudley.^ Rembrandt probably painted it as astudy for a proposed etching, which he designed for a pendant tothe Hundred Guilder Piece. For his Ecce Ho7no plate (
. Rembrandt : his life, his work, and his time. olden tones of Pilates mantle, which, with its glitter-ing embroidery of precious stones, produces an effect of extraordinarybrilliance. A work of very different character again attests the mastersversatility. This is the fine grisaille of 1656, The Preachingof John the Baptist, once the property of Jan Six. It wasbought by Cardinal Fesch for ^1,600 (40,000 francs), and nowbelongs to Lord Dudley.^ Rembrandt probably painted it as astudy for a proposed etching, which he designed for a pendant tothe Hundred Guilder Piece. For his Ecce Ho7no plate (B. 76),already mentioned, he had made a similar study in grisaille theyear before, w^hich was one of the items in his inventory, andpassed to England in 1734, at the sale of the W. Six collection. ^ It was bought fo7- the Berlin Museum at the sale of the Dudley Collection at Christiesin 1892.—7^ IV. 2 We do not know where it is to be found at present, but in Smiths CatalogueRaisonnc (No. 88) it figures as the properly of Mr. Jeremiah Si THE PREACHING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST 331 The composition, carried out in what is practically a monochromeof golden brown, is really a carefully finished picture, and it is notsurprising that Rembrandt, who disliked the drudgery of reproduc-tion, and who at the time had no pupil to whom he could entrustthe execution of so delicate a piece of work, abandoned the idea ofthe etching. Norblins print gives a very poor idea of the original,accentuatinof as it does all those eccentricities of detail, whichare lost in the magic of the general effect in the Dudley eager, ascetic figure of the prophet dominates the scene froma piece of rising ground. The light falls full upon him as, his handon his breast, he harangues the crowd around him, a multitude ofall ages, temperaments, and conditions, animated by the most widelyvaried emotions. The infinity of episode is further complicated bythe diversity of costumes, the picturesque luxurianc
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1903
