ear the young girl sat two or three times
again to the painter. The friendship presently ended in courtship, and
when Rembrandt pressed his suit the marriage seemed a very proper one.
Saskia was of a fine family and had a sufficient dowry.

Rembrandt, though the son of a miller, was already a famous painter,
much sought after for portraits, and with a promising career before
him. The engagement was therefore approved by her guardians, but
marriage being deferred till she came of age, the courtship lasted two
happy years. During this time Rembrandt painted his lady love over and
over again. It was one of his artistic methods to paint the same
person many times. He was not one of the superficial painters who
turn constantly from one model to another in search of new effects. He
liked to make an exhaustive study of a single face in many moods, with
many expressions and varied by different costumes.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF SASKIA
_Cassel Gallery_]

Saskia had small eyes and a round nose, and was not at all beautiful
according to classical standards. Rembrandt, however, cared less for
beauty than for expression, and Saskia's face was very expressive, at
times merry and almost roguish, and again quite serious. She had also
a brilliant complexion and an abundance of silky hair, waving from her
forehead. The painter had collected in his studio many pretty and
fantastic things to use in his pictures,--velvets and gold embroidered
cloaks, Oriental stuffs, laces, necklaces, and jewels. With these he
loved to deck Saskia, heightening her girlish charms with the play of
light upon these adornments.

One of the most famous of the many portraits of Saskia at this time is
the picture we have here. Because it is not signed and dated, after
Rembrandt's usual custom, it is thought that it was intended as a gift
for Saskia herself, and thus it has a romantic interest for us. Also
it is painted with extreme care, as the work of a lover offering the
choicest fruit of his art.

The artist has arranged a picturesque costume for his sitter,--a
broad-brimmed hat of red velvet with a sweeping white feather, an
elaborate dress with embroidered yoke and full sleeves, a rich mantle
draped over one shoulder, necklace, earrings, and bracelets of
pearls. Her expression is more serious here than usual, though very
happy, as if she was thinking of her lover; and in her hand she
carries a sprig of rosemary, which in Holland is the symbol of
bet