Neither was it in the drawing of delicate and beautiful lines that he wished to excel, as did Holbein and Raphael.

He was the dramatist of painting, a man who would rather paint some one person ten times over in the character of somebody else, high priest, king, warrior, or buffoon, than once thoroughly in his own.

But when people ordered portraits of themselves they wanted good likenesses, and Rembrandt was happy to supply them.

At first it was only when he was working at home to please himself that he indulged his picturesque gift.

He painted his father, his mother, and himself over and over again, but in each picture he tried some experiment with expression, or a new pose, or a strange effect of lighting, transforming the general aspect of the original.