_Rembrandt_ (Dutch: 1606-1669). _See 45._
"The costume and rapid execution of this magnificent picture point
rather," says Sir Edward Poynter, "to its being a study than a portrait
painted on commission." Probably also the title by which the picture
has long been known is a mistake: a Burgomaster would not be painted
in such dingy and fantastic garb. The old man was no doubt a model
dressed up by Rembrandt in studio "properties." The knotted stick which
he holds in his hands may be recognised in the painter's portrait
of himself in Lord Ilchester's possession (No. 61 in the Academy
Exhibition of 1899). That portrait is dated 1658, and this picture
probably belongs to the same period. The picturesque but nondescript
headgear worn by the "burgomaster" may have belonged to the master
himself in those latter days when all relics of the former splendours
had vanished. Whoever he may have been, the "Burgomaster," as he lives
for ever on Rembrandt's canvas, is a striking personage; the refined,
intellectual face recalls to some spectators one of the late ornaments
of the Episcopal Bench in our own day. The portrait is a masterpiece
alike of character-reading and of modelling.