f and Saskia, alone or together, most of
which are characterized by a barbaric splendour of costume, utterly
different from the profusion of Rubens, but far more intense. Living
among the wealthiest Jews in Amsterdam, he seems to have been strongly
attracted by their orientalism, and while Rubens gloried in natural
abundance of every sort, and painted the bounty of nature in the full
sunlight, Rembrandt chose out the treasures of art, and painted costume
and jewels gleaming out of the darkness. The portraits of himself in a
cap at Hertford House (No. 52), and of the Old Lady in the National
Gallery (No. 775), both painted in 1634, are notable examples of this
period, though they have none of the orientalism to be seen in the
various portraits of Saskia, or in _The Turk_ at Munich. The two double
portraits at Hertford House of Jean Pellicorne and his wife with their
son and daughter respectively, were among the commissions which he
received after he set up at Amsterdam, and are therefore less
interesting as self-revelations. Prosperity is not always the best
condition under which to produce the highest work, and the temperament
of Rembrandt was so peculiar that there is little wonder that the prim
Dutchmen were not entirely captivated by his exuberant sensuality, or
that we ourselves reserve our admiration principally for the more sombre
and mysterious products of his later years after misfortune began to
fall upon him.

[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.--REMBRANDT

PORTRAIT OF HENDRICKJE STOFFELS

_Louvre, Paris_]

In 1642 the beloved Saskia died, leaving an only child, Titus, whose
features are familiar to us in the portrait at Hertford House. As though
this were not affliction enough, Rembrandt had the mortification of
offending his patrons over the commission to paint Captain Banning
Cocq's Company. From this time onward, as the world and Rembrandt
drifted farther and farther apart, his work becomes more and more
wonderful.

Dr Muther, in his _History of Painting_, observes that perhaps it is
only possible to understand Rembrandt by interpreting his pictures not
as paintings but as psychological documents. "A picture by Rembrandt in
the Dresden Gallery," he says, "represents _Samson Putting Riddles to
the Philistines_; and Rembrandt's entire activity, a riddle to the
philistines of his time, has remained puzzling to the present day.... As
no other man bore his name, so the artist, too, is something unique,
mocks ever