The romantic feeling which so often pervades the background of Rembrandt’s paintings, and is so apparent in such etchings as the _Three Trees_, can only be touched on here. This new tendency is best exemplified in the works of Jan van Goyen (1596-1656), who may be regarded as the founder of a self-centred school of landscape painting in Holland; but it was his ever handy sketch-book that enabled him to outstrip his rivals in this branch of Dutch art. He is seen to great advantage in his very fine _Banks of a Dutch River_ (No. 2375), his superb _River View with eight Men in a Boat_ (No. 2378), a signed and dated work of 1649, a large light-brown-toned _River in Holland_ (No. 2377), a good _Banks of a Canal_ (No. 2379), as well as a _Dutch Canal_ (No. 2376) and a _Dutch River_ (No. 2377). [Illustration: PLATE XXXVI.—JAN VER MEER VAN DELFT (1632-1675) DUTCH SCHOOL No. 2456.—THE LACE MAKER (La Dentellière) A girl, wearing a yellow bodice and a blue skirt, is seated behind a table. She is bending her head over a light-blue lace pillow as she adjusts the bobbins with both hands. A dark-blue cushion and a book are on the table to the left. Signed in the upper right-hand corner:—“J. V. MEER,” the first three letters being intertwined. Painted in oil on canvas. 9½ in. (0·24) square.] Aert van der Neer (1603-1677) painted with strong contrasts of light, as in his _Banks of a Dutch Canal_ (No. 2483); and his monogram is to be found on the seat at the foot of a tree in his _Dutch Village_ (No. 2484), where his propensity for painting moonlight scenes is well illustrated. Herman Saftleven’s (1609-1685) _Banks of the Rhine_ (No. 2563); Jan Asselyn’s _View of the Lamentano Bridge on the Teverone_ (No. 2301), _Landscape_ (No. 2302), and _Ruins in the Roman Campagna_ (No. 2303); and the two _Landscapes_ (Nos. 2332 and 2333) by Jan Both (1610-1652), who worked in Rome and painted Italian landscapes under the influence of the French artist Claude Lorrain, show the gradual introduction of foreign influences. Joris van der Hagen (died 1669) takes a new line in the representation of a very low horizon in his _Environs de Haarlem_ (No. 2382); but his _Landscape with Peasants crossing a Ford_ (No. 2381) is dull in tone and composed of unrelated parts.