PLEASURE IN PICTURES 161 



and the incident; the sense of the relations of all the thoughts in the 

 picture — objects, figures, persons, characters, action, with the motives 

 and results of action — built into an indissoluble organism, the infinite 

 complexity of elements forming one great unit of thought, compelling 

 in its clarity— this astonishing intellectual grasp which we have without 

 effort is strongly stimulating. Our capacity is made to abound in re- 

 newed strength. 



Both of these elements are present in our enjoyment of portraiture — 

 eminently so in this picture of Rembrandt painted by himself when he 

 was an old man. Knowing ones may pay their attention to the manner 

 of the painting, but we laymen must feel that we are face to face with 

 a man whose years have been rich in life. 



Yet we have here sure signs of poverty and weakening physical 

 powers. Even if we had read nothing of Rembrandt's life we might 

 guess from this picture that he was poor and had little of the gentle- 

 man about him. No one would be better pleased, however, if he were 

 handsome or richly clothed ; and this fact is so plain that we must at 

 once accept those unpleasant conditions as a positive factor in creating 

 our enjoyment. These very ills clear away the conventionalities of life 

 and help to show us the real man. The hardships, the struggles, the 

 failures which develop man also reveal him. It would indeed be im- 

 possible to conceive of this character apart from its faults — a man led 

 by profound desires athwart every rule of art and society into a vision 

 calm, warm and powerful. 



It is not that we learn about this man out of histories of art and 

 then apply our knowledge to the picture, nor is it that we deduce the 

 character from the facts that are told us in the painting; rather, though 

 our interpretation may be indefinite, we feel it — that is, we apprehend 

 •it with our whole nervous system. Our eyes rest in quiet contempla- 

 tion on the eyes of the old philosopher ; if we look away, led by the line 

 of the arm to the hands holding palette and brushes, we inevitably 

 look back again at the head — longest and most meditatively at the far- 

 seeing eyes. We seem to take on something of the old man's personal- 

 ity; involuntarily we feel ourselves standing as he is standing, though 

 our actual physical position may not change; we forget, as he forgets, 

 the material conditions of his life ; we assume his mood and something 

 of his larger character. Our individual readings of this picture will 

 differ widely, according to our several temperaments and the knowledge 

 and associations of art and life we bring to it ; nor can we hope to come 

 to an agreement through any analysis of facial expression. Even if we 

 had a common science by which we could judge of character, Rembrandt 

 had none; he was neither physiognomist nor phrenologist, but as he 

 saw with the inner eye so he painted. This is true of every great 

 painter. To analyze their works gives us no sure interpretation, but to 



