In marked contrast to the delicacy of _Snyders_ is the bolder and more rugged treatment of _Jan Snellinx_. Fortunately, the plate has remained, until our own day, in essentially the same condition as when it left Van Dyck’s hands, and we can better realize what an artistic treasure-house the _Iconography_ might have been, had the public possessed the intelligence to appreciate, at their true worth, these fine flowerings of Van Dyck’s genius, instead of demanding, as they did, that a plate be absolutely “finished” to the four corners by the professional engraver. [Illustration: ANTHONY VAN DYCK. FRANS SNYDERS (First State) Size of the original etching, 9⅛ × 6⅛ inches In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston] [Illustration: ANTHONY VAN DYCK. LUCAS VORSTERMAN (First State) Size of the original engraving, 9⅝ × 6⅛ inches In the Collection of Charles C. Walker, Esq.] _Lucas Vorsterman_ is, in some ways, the most purely pictorial of Van Dyck’s portrait etchings. Even the taste of the time demanded no further elaboration than an engraved background, which, judiciously added, left undisturbed Van Dyck’s original work. It would be interesting to know whether REMBRANDT was acquainted with the etched work of Van Dyck. If so, it is all the more astounding that his work should betray no trace of any outside influence. Rembrandt’s earliest dated etching is also, seemingly, his first etching--a _Portrait of His Mother_, of the year 1628--an unsurpassed little masterpiece. In its own mode of simple, direct, open, linear treatment, there is nothing finer, even in the work of Rembrandt himself. _Saskia with Pearls in Her Hair_, of 1634, as also the _Young Man in a Velvet Cap with Books Beside Him_, which belongs to the year 1637, are in Rembrandt’s best manner, but the crowning triumph of this period is unquestionably _Rembrandt Leaning on a Stone Sill_, bearing the date 1639 and showing Rembrandt at the happiest period of his life--successful, prosperous, and perfect master of his medium.