the name by which Paul Gugnitz is usually known, was a very distinguished painter and engraver, and was the son of Hermann Gerretz, a miller, who dwelt on the banks of the Rhine, between Leyderdorp and Koukergen, near Leyden, where he was born in 1606. His father, who was in tolerably easy circumstances, was anxious for the youth to study Latin, and to adopt ultimately some learned profession. Rembrandt thought otherwise; and in place of studying Latin at Leyden, as was his filial duty, he spent his time in drawing Dutch boors and in delineating round bar-maids. It was clear that Rembrandt would be a painter; and his father accordingly placed him with Jacob Van Zwaanenberg at Amsterdam, where he spent three years. According to all accounts, his progress during this initiatory stage was the perfect astonishment of his master. He is said to have passed some time also with Peter Lastmann and Jacob Pinas, in order to perfect himself in the mechanical details of his art. Leaving the studio of Pinas, he commenced work on his own account within the precincts of his father's mill. In the objects of nature which surrounded his locality, and the grotesque specimens of Dutch peasants which his neighbourhood afforded, he found nourishment for his taste for simplicity, and food for his genius. He worked with great diligence, and rapidly acquired both fortune and fame. In 1630 he settled in Amsterdam, where he resided during the remainder of his life. He married in 1634, soon after reaching the city, a handsome peasant girl of Ramsdorf, whose portrait he has frequently painted. From his first establishment in Amsterdam he met with the most flattering attention. The grandest personages of the Dutch city would have their portraits taken by no one but Rembrandt; all the art students who could muster the requisite fee (for Rembrandt loved money dearly) came and laid it at the feet of this rising Dutch artist. We must not suppose, however, that Rembrandt entirely deserted the ways of those Rhine peasants or their rustic sports, upon his making the acquaintance of such distinguished personages, and on his being able to count his pupils by the dozen. The quaint old mill no longer enlivened him with its pleasant clack, and his eyes no longer rested on the queer figures which moved on the banks of the Rhine. Yet he spent his hours of recreation among the lowest orders of the people, whom his pencil delighted to portray, supplying his capricious fancy with its appropriate stimulant, and finding his ideals of the beautiful among the squat, sturdy Dutchmen who were wont to while away the time amid the congenial flavours of a beer-house. He sought nature in her simplicity; and she seems to have found her way to Rembrandt, despite his occasional irreverence for the antique. He was wont to amuse his disciples by introducing them to his collection which was designed to illustrate the ancient style. This consisted of a great variety of old armour, sabres, flags, and fantastic vestments. There was just a slight degree of affectation in this, as there usually is. Rembrandt was the most illustrious artist of his time; and he continued with unabated ardour to practise his delightful art, until death came to summon him away from Amsterdam.

In the registry of burials, in the Wester Kirk of that city, there is the following entry, which has recently been discovered:—“Tuesday the 5th of October, 1669, Rembrandt Van Rin, painter, on the Roosegraft, opposite the Maze, leaving two children.” This record places the date of his death beyond dispute; but men are likely still to cavil regarding the exact place and date of his birth. Very little is known of his life. At his death he seems to have shared the humble lot of those with whom he for the most part associated; labour and comparative obscurity while living, and at death forgetfulness. The great world, however, would not have him be forgotten. The sons of genius are sons of fame. The burgomaster Six was the only man of rank with whom Rembrandt associated; and the landscape “De la Montarde” is said to have been the result of a wager between the painter and his host. The best and the most recent account of the life and merits of Rembrandt is to be found in a lecture in Dutch, by P. Scheltema, published at Amsterdam in 1853. The reader may likewise consult his Life and Works, by J. Burnet, 1848.

Rembrandt Van Rhin stands distinguished from all artists of note by the boldness of his style, his daring manner of colouring, and his distribution of light and shade. His historical figures are doubtless deficient in dignity; but there is in them an eminent degree of truthfulness. While entirely regardless of beauty of person or elegance of deportment in his principal characters, he is eminently careful that every individual in his painting should have the varied expression of passion or sentiment appropriate to his situation. Colour, in all its combinations and gradations, was with Rembrandt the paramount consideration. His landscapes are obscured by a dusky twilight; and forms are rendered apparent in them by a struggling gleam of light which has forced its way through the sullen gloom. Rembrandt's great power, however, lay in portraits. In this department he had no equals among the Dutch painters, and few of any other school could rival him in simplicity, truth, and force of expression. As a historical painter, his figures are frequently ignoble; and he seems occasionally to have courted vulgarity rather than the graces. In the handling of his portraits he varies considerably. In the portraits of ladies particularly he seems to have exercised the most scrupulous care and attention; while in his portraits of the other sex he for the most part indulges his freedom to the fullest extent, sometimes running into positive coarseness. Fuseli says of him (Lecture ii.) that he was "a genius of the first class, in whatever relates not to form. In spite of the most portentous deformity, and without considering the spell of his chiaroscuro, such were his powers of nature, such the grandeur, pathos, or simplicity of his composition, from the most elevated or extensive arrangement to the meanest and most homely, that the best cultivated eye, the purest sensibility, and the most refined taste dwell on them, equally enthralled."

Rembrandt was likewise a very eminent engraver as well as a most original painter. He was the inventor of a process which throws an indescribable charm over all the productions of his brilliant burin. His etchings evince the most extraordinary facility, and display the most consummate knowledge of the effect of light and shadow. His most remarkable portraits are those of the burgomaster Six, Van Coppenol the writing-master, Van Trol the advocate, Uytenbogaert the minister, and Uytenbogaert the gold-weigher. England is very rich in Rembrandt's works, particularly the National Gallery in London.

A complete catalogue of Rembrandt's works was published by Daulby, Liverpool, 1796; and another and more perfect one by Bartsch, Vienna, 1797. Reference may also be had to Nieuwenhuyse's Review of the Lives and Works of the most eminent Painters, and to Smith's Catalogue Raisonné, vol. vii. The latter book contains a very ample, interesting, and instructive account of Rembrandt's paintings and etchings. (See Arts, Fine, and Painting.)