Soul Searchers but Not Soul Mates.

If you were hosting a dinner party for great artists of the past, you probably would not seat Rembrandt and Degas together. It's hard to imagine the hot-tempered humanist Rembrandt and the coldblooded formalist Degas having much to say to each other. But who knows? Here they are hanging like old pals at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a small, lovely show focused on self-portraits and prints. Organized by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in association with the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., and the Met, ''Rembrandt and Degas: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' proposes that Rembrandt influenced Degas more profoundly than anyone has suspected. In that regard, the show is illuminating but not wholly convincing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]