R 



EMBRANDT has frequently been called the 

 "Prince of Shadows," and the title indicates 

 one phase of his genius his mastery of 

 light and shade. Just where the light comes from 

 is not always apparent, but that seems a minor 

 matter when the eye can delight itself with the 

 marvelous glow of light against soft, luminous 

 shadow. His color, too, is rich and true, and his 

 modeling of the human figures beyond criticism; 

 but these are not his chief merits.. It is by 

 reason of his humanity that he is really great 

 his ability to make the men on his canvas seem 

 actually to live. 



Many men in Rembrandt's time, and earlier, 

 had been commissioned to paint portrait groups, 

 and in every case the result had been a mere con- 

 ventional grouping; but Rembrandt, engaged to 

 paint the portraits of the musketeers of Amster- 

 dam, made of his picture this "embodiment of 

 that civic heroism which had lately brought about 

 Dutch independence." It is a strange mingling 

 of fact and poetry, realism and fancy, in true 

 Rembrandt style; but it is alive. It was long 

 called The Night Watch, and the title fitted well 

 the dingy, smoke-blackened canvas which hung 

 in the Amsterdam Town Hall. But in 1889 the 

 picture was cleaned and brightened, and emerged 

 not as a night watch but as a full daylight scene 

 in the master's happiest style. 



L. J. B. 



