| Full text |
Gallery. THE HAGUE. 39. Route. 323
By the third window, **155. Jacob van Ruysdael, Distant view
of Haarlem, one of the best of the numerous similar pictures by
this master.
‘The foreground is occupied by a level meadow, on which long strips
of linen are being bleached. The houses in connection with the bleaching-
green stand towards the left. Beyond, stretching to the horizon, is a
monotonous plain, almost totally destitute of trees or dwellings, and in
the extreme distance are disti shable the town and church of Haarlem.
And all these miles of lands are represented on a little canvas, only
18 in. high!” Burger. Musées de la Hollande.
580. Adr. van Ostade, Rustic festival; 664. Jan Steen, Kermesse,
an early work.
*{76, Gerard Terburg, ‘The Dispatch’ (1653).
An officer holds a letter which appears to have been delivered to him
by a trumpeter. This picture, also called ‘The Interruption’, is one of
the most charming works of the master, full of life and expression, and
rivalling the famed ‘Paternal Admonition’ at Amsterdam. It is unfortun-
ately much darkened by age.
Room VIII. In the centre of the right wall: —
*%{46. Rembrandt's celebrated School of Anatomy, painted for
the Amsterdam guild of surgeons in 1632, and intended to adorn
the Dissecting Room (‘Snykamer’) at Amsterdam along with other
pictures of a similar nature (p. 391). These, however, whether of
later or earlier date, have been completely eclipsed and consigned
to oblivion by this masterly group of portraits. Burger has justly
characterized this picture as the truest and most lifelike represent-
ation of the ‘working of intellect’ ever produced. The painting
remained in the possession of the Surgeons’ Guild of Antwerp till
{828, when it was purchased by King William I. for 32,000 fi.
Comp. p. Ixiii.
_ ‘This picture represents the celebrated anatomist Nicolaas Tulp, a
friend and patron of Rembrandt, in a vaulted saloon, engaged in ex-
plaining the anatomy of the arm of a corpse. He wears a black cloak
with a lace collar, and a broad-brimmed soft hat. With his half-raised
left hand he m a gesture of explanation, while with his right he is
dissecting a sinew of the arm of his subject. The corpse lies on a table
before him. To the right of Tulp is a group of five figures; and two
other men are sitting at the table in front. These listeners are not
udents, but members of the guild of surgeons of Amsterdam, as shown
a paper held by one of them. They are attending to the lecture with
ery various expressions. They are all bare-headed, dressed in black,
and with turned collars, except one who still wears the old-fashioned,
upright ff are perhaps other persons present in the hall, a
Tulp appears looking beyond the picture, as if about to addr
an audience not visible to the ctator; and it is here worthy of remark
t Rembrandt's compositions are never imprisoned in their frames, but
convey an idea of a wide space beyond them. It is somewhat singular
that the spectator seems hardly to notice the corpse lying before him at
full len , the feet of which he can almost touch, although it is strongly
lighted in contrast to the surrounding black garments and most faith-
fully presents the peculiar hue of a dead body, leaving no doubt that it,
as well as the living heads, was painted from nature. The admirable
art of the composition consists in its power of riveting the attention to
the living in the presence of death. The painting is signed at the top,
*Rembrant (sic) f. 16:
Burger. Musées de la Hollande. |
