likenesses, from being intrinsically fine works of art. The number
of portraits Rembrandt painted of himself is a proof of the little
encouragement he received in painting the portraits of others. From Sir
Joshua's hand we have but two or three, while from Rembrandt's we have
nearly fifty. Yet, with all the deficiencies in the art of making up
a beautiful face, Rembrandt frequently produced portraits of great
feminine beauty: witness "The Lady with the Fan," in the collection of
the Marquis of Westminster, and "The Lady," in the Royal Collection. Had
he got the same models of female beauty that Titian and Reynolds had, he
would, in all probability, have transferred them to the canvas with the
same truth and intenseness of feeling that guided his pencil in other
matters. Rembrandt's style was that which would have suited Oliver
Cromwell, who, when he sat for his portrait, made it a _sine qua non_
that the painter should leave out neither warts nor wrinkles. The same
truth and verisimilitude that regulated his forms, guided his eye with
respect to colour. In his earlier pictures, such as "The Ship Builder,"
in the Royal Collection, there is a greater degree of hardness and
solidity of pigment than in his later works, which possess more the
suppleness of flesh. This is also to be observed in the later works of
Titian, Velasquez, and Reynolds, and in the later works of our Scottish
Velasquez--Raeburn. The portraits of Gainsborough possess this in a
high degree. What has been said with regard to Rembrandt laying on his
colours with the palette-knife, is very much exaggerated. Many of his
heads are as smooth as Reynolds's, and finished with great delicacy and
precision; in fact, the versatility of his genius, and the wonderful
command over his materials, from indefatigable practice, have given both
his pictures and prints that character of having been done in the best
style suited to accomplish his object. I have mentioned that Titian
keeps his backgrounds often dark, for the purpose of giving a delicacy
to his strong shadows in the face; both Vandyke and Rembrandt do this
by making the colour of the background amalgamate with the colour of
the hair, or dark shades of the head. Rubens, Reynolds, and Lawrence
often used a red curtain in contact with their flesh, to produce the
same result. The luminous character of the head is certainly better
preserved by its giving out rays or similarity of tone to the
surrounding background.