New-York tribune., 1909-10-17
Rembrandt, as Boy and Nan

!, tbs city OF Leycen, in Holland az the herin.
rlf q The seventeenth century. there stood lust
ihe edge OF the moat which surrounded the city
,nuple OF mills driven by those picturesoue 1vins
NILS that we see IN Dutch pictures and on Dutch
,,,es The mills were owned by a family named
~, Riin and they have found Il worth tha,r
.hHe 70 grind the malt from which beer was made
~ he good people OF Leyden 20 drink FOR we are
al q Harnen van RiJn who held the largest
asrs OF the property, that he owned houses ana
sznisns and jewelry and plate. and was so much
s-pected BY his fellow townsmen that he was
srics selected 10 MI some municipal Office He
rg,a IN 8 comfortable house behind the mill and
tsi eve sons. One OF these sons followed in his
sAers footsteps, and became a miller. another
h.c1rne broker but for some reason FFarrnen ana
Og-slis Rim had other ambitions for their
yngsst son. So they sent him 10 school," We
Sc told no learn the Latin tongue. to prepare
tnssf for the Academy OF Leyden that when ne
sszne OF age he might serve the city and the
rsy1bhe with his knowledge" But the boy. il
t.rnsd out. had no liking desire for his studies
NoSuse his natural inclinations always drew him
q TO the art Of painting and designing" where
ire harmen and Cornelia were forced 10 remove
aer son from the school and apprentice him. ar
rrding TO his wish, TO painter Il was the
rs.hsr, told. who had most 20 do with
Is 6ecison and we all ought 20 be very grateful
@ her, for the boy lived 20 become the crownins
cry OF Dutch painting. And after hundreds Of
!szrs his pictures were brought across the sea 10
strange new world that was wilderness when
= vas born IN 1906, and we may now see nearly
iry Of them in the Hudson-Fulton exhibition AT
ns Metropolitan Museum. This is a very rare
gortunity, and all the little and little women
FD love pictures ought 10 visit the exhibition
stich will open until December l. After Deceuo-
b. those pictures and the other MASTERPIECES IN the
szoton VIII al be returned TO private owners all
0sf the country and nobody knows when we
~ fever hnEre 1a,.
The youngest son Of the miller Of Ievden was
uAsd Rembrandt and usually don't bother
t,oui his last name. Van Rim. We don't know as
Hlnh about him as We would like to, but fortu-
risy he had a habit OF painting himself so that
Vs can see just how he looked at almost every
Elge OF his career. In the Hudson-Fulton exhibit
u1 are many OF these portraits There is also n
iEtFat Of The artists beautiful young wife Saskia
ul Uien5urgh. whom he constantly painted dur
tg The few years that she was with him. Besides
ns'e is portrait Of his second wife, Hendrickje
suhes; portrait OF his son Titus. and a portrait
Z the wife Of Titus, Majdalena van Loo, who was
aN his cousin.
Great men seldom get as much honor when they
~ alive after they dead and poor Rem
mndt is getting more honor in America now than
G in his own time and among his own people
Al aE, il is true. he met with nothing but sue
csz As a student his progress was so rapid that
his toVnspeople were astounded by it. and by the
tine he twenty-five years old he was famous
byeE one wanted 10 be painted by him, and he had
many orders that his patrons had TO wait as pa
usnay Is they could for opportunity 70 sit 10
him. Ihn there came change. None Of the
people Ehose opinions really mattered deserted him,
bW he csassd to be the fashion The good Hol-
laHasE were very rich at this time, and fond OF
spending heir money pictures. but they didn't
always know the difference between pictures and
paint and they liked other people better than
AentTahdt Holland full at this time of
guilds and associations which liked to have them
selves painted in groups. and this fashion gave a
stai deal Of work TO the artists. but people did
not lke the way Rembrandt painted these groups.
-hey wanted q row of stiff portraits. in which
@s vas more prominent than any one else, but
knnandt always insisted on painting real pict-
ue IL which some persons had to be in the back
ground The famous Night Watch which ought
no. 70 be called a Night Watch because it is a
6yAsht picture, was one OF these groups, and no
s17 was satisfied with il. Even the captain who
rs placed oonspicuously in the foreground wasn't
ilsi and afterward got some one else 10 paint
h portFait
Rembrandt had had head for business all this