a second mass that
second bears no proportion to the principal. Poussin, on the contrary,
has scarcely any principle mass of light at all, and his figures are
often too much dispersed, without sufficient attention to place them in
groups. The conduct of these two painters is entirely the reverse of
what might be expected from their general style and character, the works
of Poussin being as much distinguished for simplicity as those of
Rembrandt for combination. Even this conduct of Poussin might proceed
from too great affection to simplicity of another kind, too great a
desire to avoid the ostentation of art with regard to light and shadow,
on which Rembrandt so much wished to draw the attention; however, each
of them ran into contrary extremes, and it is difficult to determine
which is the most reprehensible, both being equally distant from the
demands of nature and the purposes of art."

This unity is observable in the composition of Rembrandt; even where
a multiplicity of figures are employed, they are so grouped that the
masses of light and shade are interrupted as little as possible; and it
is only in his earlier works, such as those now in the Munich Gallery,
where this isolated light is carried to extravagance. In many of his
later pictures, we have not only subordinate groups, but a repetition
of the principal lights; also a greater breadth of half-tint.
"Composition," says Reynolds, "which is the principal part of the
invention of a painter, is by far the greatest difficulty he has to
encounter. Every man that can paint at all, can execute individual
parts; but to keep these parts in due subordination as relative to a
whole, requires a comprehensive view of the art, that more strongly
implies genius than perhaps any other quality whatever." Now Rembrandt
possessed this power in an eminent degree. At the revival of painting
in Italy, the compositions consisted entirely of subjects taken from
Sacred Writ--subjects that imposed a purity of thought and a primitive
simplicity upon the artists; these qualities were, however, in a great
measure lost in passing through the Venetian and German schools, where
either the love for pictorial effect or the introduction of catholic
ceremonies took precedence of every other arrangement. The prolific
genius of Rubens spread this infectious mode of treatment through
Flanders and Holland, till at length, in the hands of the painters of
smoking and drinking scenes, historical sub