s induced by
Rembrandt's passion for the art to allow him to follow his inclination.
He entered the school of J. van Zwaanenberg at Amsterdam, where he
continued three years, and made such surprising progress as astonished
his instructor. Having learned from Zwaanenberg all he was capable of
imparting, he next studied about six months with Peter Lastmann, and
afterwards for a short time with Jacob Pinas, from whom it is said he
acquired that taste for strong contrasts of light and shadow, for which
his works are so remarkable. He was, however, more indebted for his best
improvement to the vivacity of his own genius, and an attentive study of
nature, than to any information he derived from his instructors. On
returning home, he fitted up an attic room, with a skylight, in his
father's mill, for a studio, where he probably pursued his labors for
several years, as he did not remove to Amsterdam till 1630. Here he
studied the grotesque figure of the Dutch boor, or the rotund contour of
the bar-maid of an ale house, with as much precision as the great
artists of Italy have imitated the Apollo Belvidere, or the Medicean
Venus. He was exceedingly ignorant, and it is said that he could
scarcely read. He was of a wayward and eccentric disposition, and sought
for recreation among the lowest orders of the people, in the amusements
of the ale-house, contracting habits which continued through life; even
when in prosperous circumstances, he manifested no disposition to
associate with more refined and intellectual society. It will readily be
perceived that his habits, disposition, and studies could not conduct
him to the noble conceptions of Raffaelle, but rather to an exact
imitation of the lowest order of nature, with which he delighted to be
surrounded. The life of Rembrandt is much involved in fable, and in
order to form a just estimate of his powers, it is necessary to take
these things into consideration. It is said by some writers, that, had
he studied the antique, he would have reached the very perfection of the
art, but Nieuwenhuys, in his review of the Lives and Works of the most
eminent painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools, in Smith's Catalogue
raisonne, vol xii. and supplement, says that he was by no means
deficient on that point. "For it is known that he purchased, at a high
price, casts from the antique marbles, paintings, drawings, and
engravings by the most excellent Italian masters, to assist him in his
studies, a