him, he freely took them up and bent them to his will. Making
free use of all, binding himself to none, he always remained the
versatile, independent student. And the strangest thing about it all is
that he appears to have recognized, grappled with, and forever solved the
problems of the art while nothing but a youth. One of the two etchings
which bear the earliest date (1628) and signature is known as "Rembrandt's
Mother: Head and Bust" (No. 1.) It is a delightful little plate, drawn
with all the skill and freedom of a practiced hand. Frederick Wedmore, an
English authority on etching says that "nothing in Rembrandt's work is
more exhaustive or more subtle," and S. R. Koehler, an American authority,
called it "a magnificent little portrait, complete artistically and
technically," and very truly refers to it as "a prefiguration of what was
to come." A man of twenty-two years already a master-etcher!

[No. 210. Omval.]

_No. 210. Omval._

This etching measures just about two and a half inches square. There are
others about the size of a postage-stamp, while the largest one, "The
Descent from the Cross" (No. 103), is twenty-two by sixteen and a half
inches. The amount of labor on these large plates is overpowering, while
the workmanship in the smaller ones is almost unbelievably fine--think of a
child's face not over one-eighth of an inch wide, and hands less than a
sixteenth of an inch across, yet really eloquent with expression!

Rembrandt accepted the assistance of his pupils, as who among the old
masters did not? He was, however, not practical enough to profit much by
them: he could work to much better advantage alone. Among his thirty or
forty pupils Ferdinand Bol, who came to his studio when only sixteen and
stayed for eight years, gave his master most assistance. Bol's rendering
is at times very much like Rembrandt's. Some critics think, for instance,
that he etched most of the "Goldweigher" (No. 167) and "Abraham Caressing
Isaac" (No. 148); both, however, are signed by Rembrandt. When these
pupils established studios of their own, they made free use of their old
master's compositions, subjects and figures.

With Jan Lievens, his fellow student at Lastman's studio, with van Vliet,
Roddermondt and other engravers and etchers of the time, Rembrandt was
on terms of great intimacy. They appear often to have worked on the same
plate, and to ha