REMBRANDT 



6555 



REMINGTON 



Rembrandt (1606-69). Dutch 

 painter, whose full name was Rem- 

 brandt Harmensz van Ryn. Son of 

 a miller, Rembrandt was born at 

 Leiden on July 15, 1606, and was 

 apprenticed to a local painter 

 named van Swanenborch. He 

 also studied for a time at Amster- 

 dam under Pieter Lastman, but 

 his preference for independent 

 observation and methods of work 

 brought him back to Leiden in 

 1624. Several paintings and many 

 etchings showed that he strength- 

 ened his command of drawing and 

 the use of oils between that date 

 and 1631, when, with a growing 

 reputation, he settled in Amster- 

 dam. His fame was firmly estab- 

 lished by the Anatomy Lesson, now 

 at The Hague, which he painted on 

 commission in 1632. In 1634 he 

 married Saskia van Vylenborch 

 (d. 1642), whom he portrayed in 

 various paintings and drawings. 



During the following years his 

 commissions and pupils increased 

 in numbers, and among the pro- 

 ductions of these prosperous years 

 were The Bride of Tobias (Hermi- 

 tage, Petrograd), 1636 ; The Angel 

 leaving Tobias (Louvre), 1637 ; 

 The Marriage of Samson (Dresden), 

 1638 ; and the self-portrait now in 

 the National Gallery, London, 

 1640. In 1640. came The Canal, 

 first of Rembrandt's landscape 

 etchings from nature, The Wind- 

 mill etching following in 1641. 



After the completion in 1642 of 

 the great painting generally called 

 The Night Watch (Amsterdam), a 

 corporation painting for the Am- 

 sterdam Civic Guard, Rembrandt's 

 fortunes seemed to be crossed. His 

 expensive style of living and his 

 natural generosity diminished his 

 quickly made fortune, and rapidly 

 mounting debts led to his being de- 

 clared bankrupt in 1656, when his 

 valuable private collection of 

 works of art was sold up for the 

 small sum of 5,000 florins. But his 

 powers remained undiminished, 

 and these last years of misfortune 

 saw some of his finest works, 

 among them The Adoration of the 

 Magi (Buckingham Palace), 1657 ; 

 a fine self-portrait (Munich), 1658 ; 

 and the well-known Syndics of the 

 Guild of Drapers (Amsterdam), 

 1661. In 1662 died Hendrikje 

 Stoffels, his mistress faithful in 

 misfortune, whom he probably 

 married after 1656. The master 

 himself died in poverty at Amster- 

 dam, and was buried in the Wester- 

 kerk, Oct. 8, 1669. 



Rembrandt's development as a 

 painter shows three main periods. 

 In his first manner, influenced by 

 his masters, he is tentative, dwell- 

 ing with care upon detail, but early 

 showing individuality by his use 



of a full light upon his centre of 

 interest. The Philosopher, about 

 1630, in the National Gallery, Lon- 

 don, shows well the qualities that 

 were later to develop. After a few 

 years in Amsterdam, his second 

 period, about 1635-42, shows a freer 

 expression of personality. Detail is 

 abandoned for bold, solid strokes of 

 the brush; conception and treat- 



Self-porlr 



ment of subjects are broader ; the 

 characteristic tones of gold and 

 brown are freely used ; and great 

 dramatic force is given by his con- 

 trasted effects of light and shadow. 



In his third phase, 1642-69, we 

 ^find Rembrandt making even fuller 

 use of his discovery of the power of 

 chiaroscuro, delighting in massive 

 effects of dark shadow built up of 

 rich sombre colours, and bringing 

 into his schemes a peculiar deep 

 glowing red. These qualities, 

 " Rembrandtesque," as they came 

 to be called, have profoundly in- 

 fluenced the character of painting 

 since his time. 



In the history of etching Rem- 

 brandt stands pre-eminent. Con- 

 troversy has been keen as to the 

 genuineness of all the plates as- 

 cribed to him, but he can safely be 

 credited with about 290, and, like 

 his paintings, these have had great 

 artistic influence. Broadly his 

 etching developed along lines paral- 

 lel with his painting. After about 

 1640 he passed from detail to use 

 of the dry-point to stress his light 

 and shadow effects, well seen in 

 The Three Trees, 1643, and after 

 1650 shows a wonderful mastery 

 over the whole tone of his plates, 

 memorable among which are the 

 Christ with the Sick around Him 

 (the "Hundred Guilders Print"); 

 Christ Appearing to the Disciples, 



1650 ; and Christ between His 

 Parents, 1654. See Abraham; 

 Absalom; Dutch Art; Etching; 

 Haman ; Jesus Christ ; Painting ; 

 consult also Rembrandt, H. Knack- 

 fuss, Eng. trans. 1899 ; Rembrandt, 

 H. Rea, 1903 ; The Etchings of 

 Rembrandt, P. G. Hamerton, 1905. 



J. E. Miles 



Remembrance. Term used i.i 

 several senses cognate to its recog- 

 nized meaning of recollection or 

 bearing in mind. 



The League of Remembrance, 

 whose headquarters are at 1, Marl- 

 borough Gate, London, organizes 

 a supply of medical and surgical 

 requisites and clothing to naval, 

 military, and civil hospitals and 

 other institutions and organiza- 

 tions engaged in the promotion of 

 health or social welfare, also main- 

 taining an organization to be made 

 available for mobilisation and ex- 

 pansion in cases of emergency. In 

 its original form it was the War 

 Hospital Supply Depot, 1914-19. 



In 1920 the Roads of Remem- 

 brance Association was inaugu- 

 rated. Its object is to promote the 

 planting of memorial trees along 

 suitable roads, at crossways, etc., 

 to comm.emorate the sacrifices of 

 the British in the Great War. 

 Among new and existing roads 

 which the association has beauti- 

 fied, or proposes to beautify, are 

 those connecting Kew Bridge with 

 the Bath Road, as a memorial to 

 Middlesex men ; the Croydon by- 

 road, hi Surrey, running from 

 Thornton Heath to Purley ; the 

 adornment of the new border 

 bridge over the Tweed ; and the 

 replacement of the wooden bridge 

 by a stone bridge across the Ouse 

 at Selby, Yorks. 



Remembrancer. Title for- 

 merly held by certain clerks of the 

 English exchequer. The king's re- 

 membrancer, with whose office 

 that of lord treasurer's remem- 

 brancer was amalgamated in 1833, 

 was an officer who " reminded " the 

 judge and kept certain records. He 

 is now head of a department of the 

 central office of the supreme court. 

 In London the city remembrancer 

 is an officer who watches the legis- 

 lative interests of the corporation. 



Remington, PHILO (1816-89). 

 American manufacturer and in- 

 ventor. Born at Litchfield, New 

 York, he became one of the con- 

 trolling heads of his father's small- 

 arms factory. He was the in- 

 ventor of the breech-loading rifle 

 which bears his name, and in 1873 

 was one of the first to construct a 

 practical typewriter. The Reming- 

 ton rifle was adopted by several 

 European governments, and sup- 

 plied to the Federal government 

 during the Civil War. 



