s clear and strong open line prints such as the _Christ
at Emmaus_ of 1654 (_282_) of which moderate impressions are not so
valuable, for such plates were still in fair condition for printing as
late as the eighteenth century.

Pure etching is often combined with dry-point, the latter being used to
give emphasis and strength to an etching of greater uniformity of tone.
Rembrandt did not begin to use dry-point until about 1639, e.g. in the
_Death of the Virgin_ (_161_), but it is not handled with any richness of
effect until such works as the _Triumph of Mordecai_ (_172_) which
probably dates several years later. A print like the _Three Trees_
(_205_) might seem from the reproduction to have the rich tone that comes
from dry-point, but in this case the dark effect is almost entirely due to
a close mesh of pure etched lines. The real quality of dry-point may be
better studied in some of the lightly sketched lines in the foreground of
the _Artist drawing from a model_ (_231_), e.g. the palm branch on the
right.

In his early period up till about 1640, Rembrandt's etching is
characterised by a clear lineal manner with little tendency to the
chiaroscuro which gradually became the characteristic feature of his
artistic style in etching as well as in painting. Later he tends to a
greater breadth of treatment in line, and a less imitative treatment of
physical form. At first his experiments in chiaroscuro were produced by
the close mesh of etched lines, but it must be confessed that etching as
such rather loses its character when the line is so entirely lost in tone.
Even the _Hundred Guilder Print_ (_236_) holds its unrivalled place in the
art of etching rather for the genius that overcame supreme difficulties
than for the supreme fitness of the style in relation to the medium.
Rembrandt never showed the breadth of his sympathy and his powers of
observation better than in this plate, but for grandeur of conception,
concentration of material, and a vigorous handling more in keeping with
the scale of his subject, he attained a nobler--I think his
noblest--creation in the _Three Crosses_ (_270_). The changes introduced
in this plate in a later state are remarkable, and show how completely the
etcher can transform his subject. Here the changes are astonishingly
drastic, and may have been intended to direct us to an entirely different
moment in the drama of the Crucifixion. In other examples, such as the
_Christ presented t