Rembrandt has taken great pains to transmit to us paintings of his
person, or at least of his face, from the time of his youth up to that
of shrunken old age. He was a man at once robust and delicate. His broad
and slightly rounded forehead presented a development that indicated a
powerful imagination. His eyes were small, deep-set, bright,
intelligent, and full of fire. His hair, of a warm color bordering on
red and curling naturally, may possibly have indicated a Jewish
extraction. His head had great character, in spite of the plainness of
his features; a large flat nose, high cheek-bones, and a copper-colored
complexion imparted to his face a vulgarity which, however, was relieved
by the form of his mouth, the haughty outline of his eyebrows, and the
brilliancy of his eyes. Such was Rembrandt; and the character of the
figures he painted partakes of that of his own person. That is to say,
they have great expression, but are not noble; they possess much pathos,
while deficient in what is termed style.
An artist thus constituted could not but be exceedingly original,
intelligent, and independent, though selfish and entirely swayed by
caprice. When he began to study nature, he entered upon his task not
with that good nature which is the distinctive characteristic of so many
of the Dutch painters, but with an innate desire to stamp upon every
object his own peculiarity, supplementing imagination by an attentive
observation of real life. Of all the phenomena of nature, that which
gave him most trouble was light; the difficulty he most desired to
conquer was that of expression.