. Rembrandt : his life, his work, and his time. ly. To thisend, he forced expression to theverge of burlesque ; and, gradu-ally correcting his deliberate exaggerations, he learnt to command thewhole gamut of sentiment that lies between extremes, and to impressits various manifestations, from the deepest to the most transient, onthe human face. From this time forward, scarcely a year passed without somesouvenir, painted or engraved, of his own personality. Theseportraits succeeded each other so rapidly and regularly as to form arecord of the gradual changes wrought by time in his appearance and
. Rembrandt : his life, his work, and his time. ly. To thisend, he forced expression to theverge of burlesque ; and, gradu-ally correcting his deliberate exaggerations, he learnt to command thewhole gamut of sentiment that lies between extremes, and to impressits various manifestations, from the deepest to the most transient, onthe human face. From this time forward, scarcely a year passed without somesouvenir, painted or engraved, of his own personality. Theseportraits succeeded each other so rapidly and regularly as to form arecord of the gradual changes wrought by time in his appearance andin the character of his genius. How did Rembrandt gain his knowledge of engraving ? Whotaught him the rudiments of the art ? We know not, and none ofhis biographers throw any light on the question. The name and works of Lucas, the famous engraver, a native, like 1 Ye^ nothiyig in Kembraiidf s work is more exhaustive or more subtle t/ian that Bust ofa7i Old Woman lightly etched^ of 1628. // is the first etched portrait of his mot Iter.—F. \ rembrandt with his mouth (b. 13). 28 REMBRANDT himself, of Leyden, were still revered in that city, and from his youthup Rembrandts admiration for him was so unbounded that he waswillino- to make any sacrifice to become the owner of a complete setof his works. What better guide could he have sought ? As hisknowledge of the master increased, he must have been deeplyimpressed, not only by the simplicity of his methods, but by hispreoccupation with those very problems which fascinated his ownmind, notably the rendering of light and effects of chiaroscuro. AsM. Duplessis justly observes, in his History of Engraving^: Noencrraver prior to Lucas van Leyden had greatly concerned himselfwith perspective, nor had any before him shown a like anxiety so toilluminate an intricate composition as to place each figure in its rightplane, each object in its right place. Rembrandts genius had manyanaloo-ies with that of his famous compatriot. B
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