Probably, however, the most famous portrait ever painted of an artist and his wife is that by Rembrandt in the Dresden Gallery, of Saskia seated on his knees while he clasps her waist with his left hand and raises in his right a half-filled glass. The joy on their faces gives witness to the pride and pleasure they found in each other. Saskia was a wealthy woman, and while she lived want never entered Rembrandt’s house. But, alas! she was delicate, and died in 1642, less than a year after giving birth to the son who was christened Titus. Rembrandt had spent much money in filling his house with objects of art,--prints, rich stuffs for costumes, and other things--and not long after Saskia’s death he found himself impoverished. Some idea of the richness of his collections is obtained from the adornments with which Saskia appears in the picture known as the “Jewish Bride,” and in the genre portrait, “Minerve,” in which she is shown as a learned lady in the richest of costumes, seated at a beautiful table and reading from an ancient tome. Rembrandt ranks with the greatest masters in art. “He rides fastest who rides alone.” Is it possible that Rembrandt could have ridden faster or reached a farther goal without Saskia and Hendrikje? [Illustration: REMBRANDT AND SASKIA, BY REMBRANDT _In the Royal Gallery, Dresden._] VAN DYCK’S PORTRAIT OF MARIA RUTHVEN [Illustration: VAN DYCK, BY HIMSELF _This portrait, which hangs in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, shows the artist as a young man._] [Illustration: VAN DYCK, BY HIMSELF] Van Dyck, the favorite pupil of Rubens,--so much so that when some romping pupils in Rubens’ absence brushed against a partly finished picture and marred it he was asked to retouch it in order that the master might not notice the defect,--also was a favorite in the world of women, and much influenced by them. Even in youth a love adventure is said to have sent him from Rubens’ atelier to Italy. In England, where no one is more closely identified than he with the period of Charles I., “_die schönen_ ladies,” as a German writer on Van Dyck expresses it, fairly fought for the honor of being painted by him. If his works lack the vital vigor and joyous abandon of the typical Flemish masters, it must be remembered that his Italian sojourn, passed largely in court circles, greatly refined his style, and that he, the painter of aristocrats, is also an aristocrat among painters. His output for his short life (1599-1641) was great, and of the 1,500 works catalogued as his 300 are portraits of women. Walpole speaks of their beautiful hands. But Van Dyck had special models for the hands, for those of both the men and the women. The elegance and refinement of his work is, however, undoubted, and, though he lacks the power of a Rembrandt and the tremendous verve of a Rubens, much of his work (within the limitations imposed by elegance) is executed in the “large” manner.