As the years go by we shall see that it would have been better had he saved his money and builded against the coming of the storm; but even though Saskia protested mildly against his extravagance, the master would have his way.

His was a tireless nature:  he found his rest in change.  He usually had some large compositions on hand and turned to this for pastime when portraits failed.  Then Saskia was ever present, and if there was a holiday he painted her as the “Jewish Bride,” “The Gypsy Queen,” or in some other fantastic garb.

We have seen that in those early years at Leyden he painted himself, but now it was only Saskia—­she was his other self.  All those numerous pictures of himself were drawn before he knew Saskia—­or after she had gone.

Their paradise continued nine years—­and then Saskia died.

Rembrandt was not yet forty when desolation settled down upon him.

* * * * *

Saskia was the mother of five children; four of them had died, and the babe she left, Titus by name, was only eight months old when she passed away.

For six months we find that Rembrandt did very little.  He was stunned, and his brain and hand refused to co-operate.

The first commission he undertook was the portrait of the wife of one of the rich merchants of the city.  When the work was done, the picture resembled the dead Saskia so much more than it did the sitter that the patron refused to accept it.  The artist saw only Saskia and continued to portray her.

But work gave him rest, and he began a series of Biblical studies—­serious, sober scenes fitted to his mood.  His hand had not lost its cunning, for there is a sureness and individuality shown in his work during the next few years that stamps him as the Master.

But his rivals raised a great clamor against his style.  They declared that he trampled on all precedent and scorned the laws on which true art is built.  However, he had friends, and they, to help him, went forth and secured the commission—­the famous “Night-Watch,” now in the Ryks Museum at Amsterdam.

The production of this fine picture resulted in a comedy of errors, that shaded off into a tragedy for poor Rembrandt.  The original commission for this picture came from thirty-seven prominent citizens, who were to share the expense equally among them.  The order was for the portraits of the eminent men to appear on one canvas, the subjects to be grouped in an artistic way according to the artist’s own conceit.

Rembrandt studied hard over the matter, as he was not content to execute a picture of a mass of men doing nothing but pose.

It took a year to complete the picture.  The canvas shows a band of armed men, marching forth to the defense of the city in response to a sudden night alarm.  Two brave men lead the throng and the others shade off into mere Rembrandt shadows, and you only know there are men there by the nodding plumes, banners and spearheads that glisten in the pale light of the torches.