ender, raising both hands
as if to bless the company, we feel sure that he is speaking some
message of comfort. One day when he was reading the Scriptures in
the synagogue at Capernaum, he selected a passage which described his
own work, and which perfectly applies to this picture. We can imagine
that he is saying: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the
Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of
our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in
Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

It is a noticeable fact that the figures in this picture of Christ
preaching are Dutch types. If you think that this is a strange way to
illustrate scenes which took place in Palestine many centuries ago,
you must remember that the picture was drawn by a Dutchman who knew
nothing of Palestine, and indeed little of any country outside his own
Holland. He wished to make the life of Christ seem real and vivid to
his own countrymen; and the only way he could do this was to represent
the scenes in the surroundings most familiar to himself and to them.
The artist was simply trying to imagine what Jesus would do if he had
come to Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, instead of to Jerusalem
in the first century; somewhat as certain modern writers have tried to
think what would take place "If Jesus came to Chicago," or "If Jesus
came to Boston," in the nineteenth century. The sweet gentleness in
the face of Christ and the eager attention of the people show how well
Rembrandt understood the real meaning of the New Testament.

This picture is worthy of very special study because it is reckoned by
critics one of the best of Rembrandt's etchings. One enthusiastic
writer[8] says that "the full maturity of his genius is expressed in
every feature." One must know a great deal about the technical
processes of etching to appreciate fully all these excellencies; but
even an inexperienced eye can see how few and simple are the lines
which produce such striking effects of light and shadow: a scratch or
two here, a few parallel lines drawn diagonally there; some coarse
cross-hatching in one place, closer hatching in anoth