jects, even of a sacred
character, became quite ridiculous. Yet, with all these examples of bad
and vulgar taste around him, we find many compositions of Rembrandt less
degraded by mean representation than many of the best of the works of
the Venetian and Flemish painters. Take, for example, his design of
Christ and his Disciples at Emmaus, the principal figure in which is
certainly more refined than the Christ either in the pictures of Titian
or Rubens of the same subject; in fact, the idea of it is taken from the
Last Supper, by Raffaelle, (the Mark Antonio print of which he must have
had.) Raffaelle is indebted for the figure to Leonardo da Vinci; and if
we were to trace back, I have no doubt we should find that the Milanese
borrowed it from an earlier master; indeed, we perceive in the progress
of painting much of the primitive simplicity and uniformity preserved
in the best works of the Italian school. It was only when composition
passed through the prolific minds of such artists as Paul Veronese,
Tintoret, and Rubens, that it was made subservient to the bustle,
animation, and picturesque effect of their works. When we find,
therefore, any remains revived in the pictures of Rembrandt, who was
surrounded by compositions of a vulgar and low cast, we can only ascribe
it to the taste and genius of this great painter. In the design just
mentioned, the idea of the Disciples, as if struck with astonishment
and awe at the bursting forth of the divinity of Christ, is admirably
conceived. As the heads are taken from the people of his country, they
of necessity partake of the character of the people. This cannot be
justified, though it is excusable. Reynolds, on this head, speaking
of the ennobling of the characters in an historical picture, says,
"How much the great style exacts from its professors to conceive and
represent their subjects in a poetical manner, not confined to mere
matter of fact, may be seen in the Cartoons of Raffaelle. In all the
pictures in which the painter has represented the apostles, he has
drawn them with great nobleness; he has given them as much dignity as
the human figure is capable of receiving. Yet we are expressly told in
Scripture they had no such respectable appearance; and of St. Paul
in particular we are told by himself that his _bodily_ presence was
_mean_. In conformity to custom, I call this part of the art History
Painting: it ought to be called Poetical, as in reality it is." He
further