I myself have made copies of a hundred Rembrandts in order to understand more completely his method of work. And in copying these pictures certain qualities have been revealed to me which no one could possibly have learnt except by this means. Rembrandt worked more or less in two stages: first, by a carefully-painted monochrome, handled in such a way as to give texture as well as drawing, and in which the masses of light and shade are defined in a masterly manner; second, by putting on the rich, golden colour--mostly in the form of glazes, but with a full brush. This method of handling glazes over monochrome has given a gem-like quality to Rembrandt's work, so much so that you might cut out any square inch from any portion of his pictures and wear it as a jewel. And in all his paintings there is the same decorative quality that I have before alluded to: any picture by Rembrandt arrests you as a decorative patch--the grouping and design, and, above all, the balance of light and shade, are perfect.
1. Portrait of a Slav Prince _Frontispiece_
3. A Rabbi Seated, a Stick in his Hands and a High Feather in his Cap
6. An Old Man with a Long White Beard, Seated, wearing a Wide Cap, his Hands folded
8. Reconciliation between David and Absalom
9. An Old Woman in an Arm Chair, with a Black Head-cloth
12. Portrait of an Old Lady, Full Face, her Hands folded
13. Portrait of an Old Lady in a Velvet Hood, her Hands folded
16. A Young Woman in a Red Chair holding a Pink in her Right Hand
_The illustrations in this volume have been engraved and printed at the Menpes Press._
Imagine a man, a citizen of London, healthy, middle-aged, successful in business, whose interest in golf is as keen, according to his lights and limitations, as the absorption of Rembrandt in art. Suppose this citizen, having one day a loose half-hour of time to fill in the neighbourhood of South Kensington, remembers the articles he has skimmed in the papers about the Constantine Ionides bequest: suppose he strolls into the Museum and asks his way of a patient policeman to the Ionides collection. Suppose he stands before the revolving frame of Rembrandt etchings, idly pushing from right to left the varied creations of the master, would he be charmed? would his imagination be stirred? Perhaps so: perhaps not. Perhaps, being a man of importance in the city, knowing the markets, his eye-brows would unconsciously elevate themselves, and his lips shape into the position that produces the polite movement of astonishment, if some one whispered in his ear--"At the Holford sale the _Hundred Guilder Print_ fetched £1750, and _Ephraim Bonus with the Black Ring_, £1950; and M. Edmund de Rothschild paid £1160 for a first state of the _Dr. A. Tholinx_." Those figures might stimulate his curiosity, but being, as I have said, a golfer, his interest in Rembrandt would certainly receive a quick impulse when he observed in the revolving frame the etching No. 683, 2-7/8 inches wide, 5-1/8 inches high, called _The Sport of Kolef or Golf_.