es of Rembrandt we
meet with the same breadth, and hues of a deep tone, without being black
or heavy; they are also painted with a full pencil, and rich juicy
vehicle. Rembrandt, like Titian, Rubens, and others who were historical
painters, seizes upon the great characteristics of nature without
entering into the painful fidelity of topographical littleness; the
same generalizing principles pervade every variety of subject. Fuseli,
speaking of portrait painting as mere likenesses, adds--"To portrait
painting thus circumstanced, we subjoin, as the last branch of
uninteresting subjects, that kind of landscape which is entirely
occupied with the tame delineation of a given spot--an enumeration of
hill and dale, clumps of trees, shrubs, water, meadows, cottages, and
houses--what is commonly called views. These, if not assisted by nature,
dictated by taste, or chosen for character, may delight the owner of the
acres they enclose, the inhabitants of the spot, perhaps the antiquary
or the traveller, but to any other eye, they are little more than
topography. The landscape of Titian, of Mola, of Salvator, of the
Poussins, Claude, Rubens, Elsheimer, Rembrandt, and Wilson, spurns all
relation with this kind of map-work. To them nature disclosed her bosom
in the varied light of rising, meridian, and setting suns--in twilight,
night, and dawn."

[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF A DRAWING BY REMBRANDT IN BRITISH MUSEUM]

DRAWINGS BY REMBRANDT.

In looking over the numerous portfolios of drawings in public and
private libraries, we are struck with the accumulated mass of mediocre
talent. Many of them are often well composed, and even well drawn, but
they are completely destitute of what constitutes true merit--they
possess no distinguishing mark whereby we can discern one master from
another; they are struck off with wonderful dexterity, as far as the eye
or hand is concerned, but the mind is totally wanting; neither do they
possess the peculiar features of natural truth, whose lines are filled
with variety, sometimes sharp, sometimes round--in parts faint and
delicate, and in other places strong and cutting. On the other hand,
when the drawings of great painters are examined, the master mind shines
forth in every touch, and we recognise the works of Michael Angelo,
Raffaelle, Coreggio, and others, at a glance. The drawings of Rembrandt
possess this quality in a superlative degree, and the slightest
indication seems sufficient