Evening star., 1944-05-21
Here

The National Gallery of Art is
especially rich in paintings by Rem
brandt, nine having been derived
from the Mellon collection Give of
which, by the way, came from the
Hermitage), and IA from the Wild
ener gift, among which is "The
Mill" declared to be the finest land
scape painting ever produced. Some
of these paintings are not on view
at present, having been stored in a
place of greater safety during the
war, but enough remain on the
walls in the main galleries to afford
interesting. comparison with the
etchings and drawings below stairs.
It is particularly interesting to
note the difference in technique be-
tween the paintings, drawings and
etchings. In the paintings REM
brandt's preoccupation with effects
of light and shade is seen, his ef-
forts to transcribe atmosphere, to
model as well as draw, to interpret
character, personality, things felt as
we'll as seen. No one before him
had given such study to chiascuro.
In the etchings line takes first i'm
portance. Comparison has, how
ever, been instituted between the
etched Three Trees" and the
painting, 1.-The Mill" because both
as landscapes and works OF art con-
Germ themselves with effects Of light
and shade, atmospheric conditions,
the approach Of evening and the
clearing up Of showers. The etched
line in one instance is employed
with great dencacy, the sense Of
form in the other made obvious by
use of shadow. Both are master
pieces from the same hand.
Referring to these and other land
scapes by Rembrandt, Laurence
Binyon has said, What is it that
gives them their enduring charm?
The answer lies in what Rembrandt
was-in the depth and greatness
of his humanity. When we have
assigned him all the virtues which
his art possesses there is still some
thing left over, and that the rarest
of them all is beyond analysis. 1t
is an intangible presence of which
we cannot choose but be conscious" I"
His Life Vas Tragic
The story of Rembrandt's life as
told by Van Loon and others is full
of heart-rending tragedy. The be-
ginning was bright. His father was
miller of Leyden, his mother the
daughter of prosperous baker.
Rembrandt, born 1906, was a fifth
child, and his father intended him
to have a scholarly education, but
when he turned to art made no OBJ
lection. After six years of study
under minor masters in 1882 he
painted "The Anatomy Lesson" !"
which brought him fame and favor;
two years later he married Saskia,
who bore him four daughters and
son, Titus, who grew to man
hood, the little girls all dying in
infancy.
In 1912 his beloved wife died. In
the same year he painted "The
Night Watch" which aroused con-
troversy and brought him further
misfortune. It was, however, in this
year that he made the friendship Of
Jan Six, which continued to his
life's end and was ennobling. One
blow followed another. Rembrandt
lost his money and his home with
its treasured possessions. Still worse
he seems to have lost his self re-
spect. But he was faithful to his
art and gave to it his best
This being the case, during even
the darkest of his hours he must
have had moments of consolation,
for none could paint and draw and
etch as he did without occasionally
being conscious of kinship with his
Maker-the great Creator-and been
exalted by it. He died in 1869, but
is still numbered with the immor-
tails.