t the picture of Lord Heathfield, the glorious
defender of Gibraltar, would have been of equal importance, had it been
a whole length; but even as it is--only a bust--there is great animation
and spirit, happily adapted to the indications of the tremendous scene
around him; and to the admirable circumstance of the key of the
fortress, firmly grasped in his hand, than which imagination cannot
conceive anything more ingenious and heroically characteristic. It
is, perhaps, owing to the Academy, and to his situation in it, to
the discourses which he biennially made to the pupils upon the great
principles of historical art, and the generous ardour of his own mind
to realize what he advised, that we are indebted for a few expansive
efforts of colouring and chiaro-scuro which would do honour to the first
names in the records of art." And speaking of the large historical work
he painted for the Empress of Russia, he adds--"Nothing can exceed the
brilliancy of light--the force and vigorous effect of his picture of
'The Infant Hercules strangling the Serpent;' it possesses all that we
look for and are accustomed to admire in the works of Rembrandt, united
to beautiful forms and an elevation of mind to which Rembrandt had no
pretensions. The prophetical agitation of Tiresias and Juno, enveloped
in clouds, hanging over the scene like a black pestilence, can never be
too much admired, and are, indeed, truly sublime."

After such commendations, and from so high an authority, we might feel
a diffidence in bringing forward the great founder of the Dutch school
in competition with such artists as Titian and Reynolds, did we not
know that the qualities of the chiaro-scuro and colour of Reynolds are
founded on the deep tones of Rembrandt, who, as a colourist, takes his
proper place between the two heads of the Venetian and English schools.
How far Rembrandt was indebted for his principles of colour to the works
of Titian, it is impossible to say; but many of his pictures bear a
greater affinity to the last style of this great colourist than to any
other painter. We perceive by the catalogue of his effects, that folios
containing drawings by Titian, also prints after him, were in his
possession. The luminous, rich tones of his flesh are more like Titian
than Rubens or Vandyke, whose works he must have been familiar with;
and while his backgrounds are less black and inky than those in the
portraits of Titian and Tintoret, they are also more