REMBRANDT 



-19GS 



REMBRANDT 



setts by an act of the Legislature in 1833; and 

 in Virginia by a decision of the court of ap- 

 peals in 1840. Most of the State constitutions 

 now guarantee religious liberty. Many also 

 forbid compulsory attendance or support to 

 any Church, and some forbid public appropria- 

 tions for any religious organization. A curi- 

 ous inconsistency appears in the fact that eight 

 states forbid anyone holding public office who 

 denies the existence of a Supreme Being or of 

 a future state of rewards and punishment. 



While almost complete independence in re- 

 ligion now exists, this liberty, like any other, 

 may be abused. Thus religious liberty cannot 

 be extended to include acts which are consid- 

 ered inconsistent with the peace and safety of 

 the state. On this ground the courts upheld the 

 United States law prohibiting the practice of 

 polygamy. Religious liberty has developed in 

 America as it never existed before in any land, 

 and its success in the United States has exerted 

 a powerful influence over other countries. 



In Other Countries. While England still has 



its established Church, yet all religious tests 



for holding office have been abolished, except 



v in respect to the Crown; the sovereign must 



be an adherent of the Church of England. The 



same freedom exists in all English colonies. In 



France no religious denomination receives any 



aid from the state, while in Germany freedom 



is allowed, with only certain restrictions on the 



right of assembly. E.D.F. 



REMBRANDT, rem' brant (1606-1669), the 

 representative painter of the Golden Age of 

 Dutch Art, and one of the greatest masters 

 of portraiture who ever lived. In the treat- 

 ment of light and shade Rembrandt has no 

 equal , and he 

 likewise has a 

 preeminent posi- 

 tion in the field 

 of etching. He 

 was born at Ley- 

 den, and his 

 name in full was 

 REMBRANDT HAR- 



MENSZ VAN RlJN. 



At the age of 

 twenty-two he es- 

 tablished himself REMBRANDT 

 at Amsterdam, where he spent the rest of his 

 life. There, in 1634, he married the beautiful 

 Saskia van Uylenborch, of whom he painted 

 numerous portraits. In the gallery at Dresden 

 may be seen one of the finest of these, together 

 with a beautiful canvas of both, entitled the 



Wedding Breakfast. The artist was exceed- 

 ingly fond of painting his own likeness and 

 likenesses of the members of his family. Sas- 

 kia was the inspiration of many of his finest 

 achievements, and after her death, in 1642, his 

 good fortune waned. Though he had enjoyed 

 a high reputation and been looked upon as 

 the most popular portraitist of the day, he died 

 in poverty and obscurity. 



"Rembrandts" are to be found in numerous 

 galleries of Europe and America. The artist's 

 first great masterpiece, The Anatomy Lecture, 



REMBRANDT STATUE AT AMSTERDAM 



painted in 1632, is in The Hague; his most 

 celebrated work, the so-called Night Watch, 

 is in the Royal Museum at Amsterdam. This 

 wonderful canvas, faithfully reproduced in 

 color herewith, with its inimitable disposition 

 of light and shadow, is really a day scene in 

 which is shown a portion of the civic guard 

 issuing from the clubhouse. Of almost equal 

 fame is The Syndics, in the same miiM-um. 

 The Metropolitan Museum, in New York, has 

 a likeness of his son Titus, the celebrated Old 

 Woman Cutting Her Nails, The Auctioneer 

 and several others; in the Art Institute, Chi- 

 cago, is his admired Girl at a Window. There 

 are also many noted "Rembrandts" in private 

 collections in America. Probably his best- 

 known landscape painting is The Mill, a treas- 

 ure of the Widener collection in Philadelphia. 

 Rembrandt also left many fine examples of re- 



