elled into the
Netherlands, he mentions some prints he sent to Rome, in exchange for
those he expected in return, and it is mentioned that Raffaelle admired
his works highly. The multitude of his engravings, both on copper and
wood, which were spread over Germany, influenced, in a great degree,
the style of composition of those artists who came after him, and
accordingly we see many points of coincidence in the compositions of
Rembrandt. A century, however, had opened up a greater insight into the
mysteries of painting than either Leonardo da Vinci or Albert Durer ever
thought of; one alone,--viz. aerial perspective, seems to mark the line
between the ancient and modern school; for though Durer invented several
instruments for perfecting lineal perspective, his works exhibit no
attempt at giving the indistinctness of distant objects. To Rubens,
Germany and Holland were indebted for this essential part of the art, so
necessary to a true representation of Nature. This great genius, in his
contemplation of the works of Titian and others, both at Venice and in
Madrid, soon emancipated the art of his country from the Gothic hardness
of Lucas Cranach, Van Eyck, and Albert Durer; but notwithstanding his
taste and knowledge of what constituted the higher qualities of the
Italian school, the irregular combinations and multitudinous assemblage
of figures found in the early German compositions remained with him to
the last. His works are like a melodrama, filled with actors who have
no settled action or expression allotted them, while in the works of
Raffaelle, and other great composers, the persons introduced are limited
to the smallest number necessary to explain the story. This condensing
of the interest, if I may use the expression, was borrowed originally
from the Greeks, of whose sculptures the Romans availed themselves to a
great degree. On the other hand, this looseness of arrangement, and what
may be termed ornamental, not only spread through Germany, but infected
the schools of Venice; witness the works of Tintoret and Paul Veronese,
in which the expression of the countenance absolutely goes for nothing,
and the whole arrangement is drawn out in a picturesque point of view,
merely to amuse and gratify the eye of the spectator.

Now, with all these infectious examples before him, Rembrandt has done
much to concentrate the action, and reduce the number drawn out on the
canvas to the mere personages who figure in the history