1S27.J The Carlton- House Picture*. 37 



very least counterbalanced, in its effects on that only external symbol of 

 intellect, the face ; and, accordingly, the expression of intellect in the 

 countenance is at least as conspicuous in the low as in the high. If Rem- 

 brandt did not know this by experience and observation, he did by 

 instinct which is ten times better: and he painted accordingly. He 

 dared to paint men and women as they are; or rather, he did not dare 

 to paint them as they are not. 



With the exception of the above, and one other very early and inferior 

 picture of Rembrandt, all his others in this collection aro portraits ; but 

 they are all of the very first class. The most valuable and interesting is 

 one of himself. In point of execution it unites finish and facility in a 

 very remarkable degree ; the colouring is rich, and the shadows deep and 

 grand ; and in respect to expression, nothing can be finer or more charac- 

 teristic ; the eyes seem to look out into vacancy, as if in search of some 

 of those imaginary effects of light, by the production of which this artist 

 so marvellously distinguished himself from all others; while, in all other 

 respects, the face is marked by nothing but that unaffected simplicity, 

 and that unpretending truth, and even homeliness, which pervade the 

 greater portion of this artist's works, and form their rarest merits. 



The two other most conspicuous of Rembrandt's works in this collection 

 are, the celebrated portraits of the Burgomaster, Pancras, and his Wife, 

 and the Shipbuilder and his Wife. The first of these is a gorgeous work 

 as to colouring. Gold and jewels glow and glitter throughout every part, 

 as if the reputed riches of the subjects of it had possessed the painter's 

 imagination during his execution of the picture, and he had transferred 

 the sentiment of these to the canvas, without knowing or intending it; for 

 there is no great display of wealth : we speak merely of the extraordinary 

 splendour of the colouring as if it were composed of the light issuing 

 from precious stones. In point of expression there is little to call for partir 

 cular remark. The Burgomaster himself is delineated with great distinct- 

 ness and individuality ; but the lady has little of these, and much resem- 

 bles some of Rubens' women, in the general character of the face and 

 head. This picture is worked up with infinite care and finish, as if the 

 wealthy subject of it had insisted upon the artist making it reach, as high 

 a "price as he could ; and as if he thought that high finish, high merit, 

 and high price were convertible terms. The other of these fine pieces 

 that of the Shipbuilder and his Wife is in a higher class of art than the 

 above named, though by no means so striking in us immediate effect on 

 the spectator, on account of the extreme sobriety of the colouring. Titian 

 himself never painted any thing at once more intellectual and more indi- 

 vidualized than each of these characters. It is impossible to believe, in 

 looking at them, that the artist has either added any thing to what he 

 saw before him, or left any thing untold. Or rather, in looking at them, 

 you do not think of any such matters as addition, likeness, deficiency, or 

 even of artist or of portraits. You see certain people before you, and 

 think of nothing else .not even of the extraordinary skill which placed 

 them there. This, and this only, is the perfection of art. 



Here are two other portraits by Rembrandt; one of a Jew Rabbi, and 

 the other of a Lady with a Fan. They are both admirable; and the 

 latter in particular is a perfect specimen of that noble simplicity of style 

 in which none ever succeeded so perfectly as the artist before us. But 

 only to think of an artist of our day painting " a Lady with a Fan" after 

 this fashion! Alas! no frame-maker, even, would be so deficient in taste 

 as to trust him with a frame to put it in ; and as to any " hanging com- 



