is exceeding strong and the artistic work above
criticism. When we look at "David in Prayer" (No. 258), beside his
incongruous four-post bedstead, we cannot but feel that here penitence and
sincerity is forcefully depicted. The acme of Rembrandt's religious work
was reached, however in "Christ, with the Sick Around Him" (No. 236)
(etched about 1650), which is often called the finest piece of etched work
that has ever been produced. It is a combination of pure etching and
dry-point, and in the second state, there is an India-ink wash in the
background. There are, I think, nine copies of the first state extant;
the last one sold at public auction (Christie's, 1893) brought over
$8,500. While the Christ here is not so satisfying as the one in "Christ
Preaching" (No. 256) which is remarkably strong and noble, it is
Rembrandt's typical conception of our Lord--always ministering to real
flesh and blood, the poor, suffering, common people. What a striking
contrast with the resplendent artificiality which surrounds the Christ of
the Italian masters.

[No. 290. Jan Lutma, Goldsmith and Sculptor.]

_No. 290. Jan Lutma, Goldsmith and Sculptor._

Rembrandt was his own most frequent model. He painted about sixty
portraits of himself, and among his etchings we find about two score more.
Some of them are large and finished, as the deservedly popular "Rembrandt
Leaning on a Stone Sill" (No. 168), which is a perfect example of the
possibilities of the etching-needle; others are mere thumb-nail sketches
of various expressions of face. He used his mother many times, and also
his wife and son. In all these is apparent a delightful sense of joy in
his work. Nor is this desirable quality lacking in the wonderful series
of large portraits of his friends: the doctors, the ministers, the
tradesmen of Amsterdam. Perhaps these were pot-boilers, as some students
of his work say, but surely never artist before or since produced to
order a group of etchings that, taken entirely apart from his other plates
would assure their author a high place among the greatest etchers. In the
whole lot there are few that some authority on etching or some great
artist has not held up as an example of work that even the master himself
never surpassed. But an artist cannot always keep himself at concert
pitch and when Rembrandt etched the portrait of his friend "Abraham
Francen" (No. 291) I feel that he struck an uncertain