136 



Rembrandt, it is well known, had scarce- 

 ly any idea of beauty or elegance ; and as 

 little of that grandeur in the human form, 

 which results from correctness and fulness 

 of outline, added to nobleness of charac- 

 ter. He had however a grandeur of his 

 own of a mixed and peculiar kind, pro- 

 duced by the arrangement of his compo- 

 sitions, and even by the form of many of 

 the objects themselves, when set off and 

 partially concealed by the breadth and 

 the disposition of his light and shadow. 

 In that branch of his art in which he is so 

 pre-eminent, he often produces a mysteri- 

 ous solemnity, which impresses very grand 

 ideas, and which I am persuaded would add 

 no small degree of grandeur to the figures 

 and compositions of the higher schools. 

 Rembrandt has great variety and truth of 

 expression, though seldom of an elevated 

 kind ; one figure of his, however, — the Christ 



light in a number of different directions might produce 

 such a flicker, as could not be given by putting on the co~ 

 fours in the common way upon a smooth surface. 



