Not until very recently has Holland had any but half gods since.
It may of course be urged that Italy had witnessed a somewhat similar phenomenon.

But the spiritual stimulus of the Renaissance among the naturally artistic southerners cannot, I think, be compared with the stimulus given by the establishment of prosperity to these cold and material northerners.

The making of great Italian art was a gradual process: the Dutch masters sprang forth fully armed at the first word of command.

In the preceding generation the Rembrandts had been millers; the Steens brewers; the Dous glaziers; and so forth.

But the demand for pictures having sounded, their sons were prepared to be painters of the first magnitude.