Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-04-08

gard face, the cold hands. speak the
agony and bloody sweat OF the cross
the GOODNESS and the pallor OF the tomb
1t Is an epitome not more of the sor-
rows of the Christ than OF the rejected
ana forgotten Rembrandt. The steel
had pierced his soul and while nor
traylng his own emotional feeling he
was uncQnsciously painting that which
s arouse the sympathy of all men
III all lands. Yet as he advanced In
years he kept growing more profound
IN MS thoughts. his emotions. his ort
he took up the type of age and fried
10 give the sum of existence in the por
traits of old men ard women His
rabbis wear the air of the tonpue1
iashed and the fire-scathed. ana his
own portrait, which he continued to
pant, is sad-faced and somber-hued
Inc shadows were settling darkly about
hii', put Whatever his Personal feeling
he ana not give UP the brush Ee
worked on. seeing clearer and surer the
Sleat universal truths the great prob
iens OF existence until at last his hand
ltied him. 1t no longer obeyed his
i Ills late pictures show that his
crush labored heavily and was hot.
iumplinS and Intellectual Ana then tbs
END came quickly.
Given the mind and the eve Raw,
brandt had still another gift of great
was primarily portrait painter and q
STUDENT s,,L of the human countenance'
mere never was q painter who az
thoroughly knew the face az Rem
. pIahut. WIN what force he could show
the emotional nature in eve and cheel,
ana brow and mouth! He had s.ntIjoS
them al! his life and was master oe
tncm IN all their phases. Yet moi alona
mt .iie nloo'le face-that mirror of the
passions. He could put dramatic meon
me III an outstretched hand. n hent
Knee u bowed head a linn form viii
startling effect The cold. stiff BODY In
me Lesson in Anatomy" is not more
SS ornl than the moving figures IN the
ioreSronnd of The Night Watch or
the frightened group about the Christi
III me supper at EmmaNs" How nh
soiute the man in all his Characterize
l,onS-hot more so in the seated bulk
OF the figures in THE Five Syndics,'
than in the whole souled look in n yo
mans face or the sunlight dashed fun
upon the arms Of n windmill, Ho al
Ways Way caught the salient feature, the
e Ga,,ig truth, And he. needed no classic
lgures or Ideal proportions in his art
Inc type of Raphael. for instance.
would have been too coltlly regular. ton
selt-conscious. for him. TIe required the
IuGseu purgher. the worn outcast and
the pallid pilgrim for his art These he
found about him in tho streets of Am
sterdam lie never went beyond the
town Tor his types. His tale was told
with the material ut his doorstep. The
eternal verities are the same at Amster-
diun as at Athens or Rome Rembrandt
proved ii in his nrt. and thrrefn- NOT
little Of his greatness
IN the technical power OF EXPRESSING
himscll tho great Dutchman was sin
&ularly well equipped. He was a con-
aummate draughtsman but in no mead
enlc. RaphaclcsGue sense The human
figure was to him something more than
an outlined silhouette. 1t had bulk
mass weight light and shade So he
Grew 1t in n naturalistic rather thnn n
classic way, relying largely upon re-
res or light by shade and modelling
the paint with his thumb when II
pleased him. The object OF this was.
OF course. to produce an exact represent
,ntion Of the model before him. His
lands were not painted like Leonardoa.
Dut how like flesh and blood they look!
ms faces were not gracefully rounded
IN the contours like Corrcggio's. but
now he set the eye in its socket! How
he painted the mouth, cheek and Jaw,
How he modelled the head and how
iiTmly he placed 1t on the shoulders,
t'he shadow cast by the hat across the
forehead Of THE Glider" Is not brown
RANT, but apparently n real shadow:
me runs in the Van Beresteyn portraits
seem real rufus; the cloth in 1.-THE Ma
noah picture at Dresden seems real
cioih. There has never been quite such
realistic presentation in art as his.
The petty insistcnces OF Dou and Meis-
sonier and all the little men of the paint
comparisons. They nigsled and tortured
canvas to produce Il deceptive sur
face. but Rembrandt was always con-
ccrned with the larger truth of mass
and volume.
a most potent means in Rembrandt's
| hands of producing the realistic appear
| ance WAS his light and shade And vet
| IL was arbitrary and uncompromising
to the last degree. He narrowed the
iecus OF his light To single shaft and
| then drove II, forced il, distorted II nv
sharp contrast With shadow In his
| portraiture he threw the highest illum
nation upon the forehead, the nose and
the chin, allowed the shadows to deem
en- suddenly along the checks the
l-es-vsss OF the head and the throat and
then plunged the background in dark
ness. mis- produced the effect of n
| head peerinE sharply out of yloom-a
powerful method of presentation evan
| IL not exactly true to the law of sun
iiSht a gig-lamp illuminates darkness
atter That manner, but the sun does
| NOT. And Rembrandt found this out to
| IiS moruilcation when he ossayed the
large iigure-piece. The method of light
| ING mat answered so perfectly in his
stands Tor the single figure the portralt
ana the small canvas generally was
mno!y inadequate when applied to
| many hgures on Il large scale This ia
me fault in THE Night Watch" r. ia
Illuminated by gig-lamp flashes ON diff
lercnt races but by no all-pervading
| sun lght from above. No wonder peo.
PIE insisted that what Rembrandt
meant Tor day scene was a night
scene by torch-light. There is no sun
| lsht in it. For the portrait Rem
otahdts method of lighting was we'll
&c ., lteu :put even there 1t was artificial
|