natomy," now one of the gems of the
fine gallery at the Hague. It represents a lecture by Professor Tulp, who
is dissecting the arm of a dead body and explaining its structure to seven
other surgeons. It is a wonderful picture and one of the most famous works
of this great master. In 1828 it was sold for the benefit of the fund for
surgeons' widows, and the Dutch Government paid thirty-two thousand
florins for it. This picture is in a certain way a portrait picture, and
comes within the class of Dutch pictures of which I have spoken as
portraits of guilds and societies; for Tulp was very famous, and Rembrandt
probably attended his lectures, and was chosen by him to be the painter of
this celebrated portrait of himself surrounded by members of his guild.

Rembrandt's influence upon the art of his time was very great almost from
the beginning of his career. About 1634 he introduced his manner of
portrait-painting, with dark backgrounds and deep shadows on the face,
with a bright light on the cheek and nose passing down to the shoulder,
and immediately other artists adopted this manner. They considered it a
necessity to imitate him, so much was he admired.

In 1634 Rembrandt married Saskia van Ulenburg, who was very beautiful and
of an aristocratic and wealthy family. She was only twenty-one years of
age when she married, and Rembrandt painted many portraits of her besides
making her his model for beautiful figures in his mythological and sacred
subjects. She lived but eight years after her marriage, which were the
happiest of the artist's life. She left but one child, a son named Titus,
and showed her confidence in her husband by leaving all her fortune to
him, with the single stipulation that their son should be properly
educated.

After the death of Saskia it seems that the only thought of the master was
to work without rest, and in this way to drown the remembrance of his
sorrow. There is little material for a story of his life--it is told in
his pictures. The house in which Saskia lived was very fine, and Rembrandt
was so fond of collecting all sorts of curious and beautiful objects that
he finally made himself poor, and his collection was sold. He never
travelled, and some writers have said that he was ignorant of classic art;
but the list of his collections proves that he had busts of Homer and
Socrates and copies of ancient sculptures, such as the "Laocoon," a
"Cupid," and so on. He also had pictures of some of th