cavalry, and encampments, and particularly excelled in drawing horses in every variety of action. He died in 1690.

VERSCHURING, HENRI, was an excellent painter in several departments, but his best pictures are thought to be his battles, skirmishes, plundering of villages, and attacks of banditti, subjects which he was too well acquainted with by experience; but it is a mere matter of taste to say which is best when all are good. He was born at Gorcum in 1627, and was drowned near Dort in 1690.

WAAL, or WAEL, CORNELIUS DE, was born at Antwerp in 1594, but acquired his reputation in Italy as a painter of battles and skirmishes of cavalry. He represented the fury of the combatants with dramatic truth of expression, and his figures and horses are correctly designed. He died in 1662.

WYCK, JOHN, born at Haerlem in 1640, accompanied his father to England, and remained there for the remainder of his life. He painted various subjects, in which horses formed part; particularly battles on a large scale, but his smaller pieces are more esteemed. In the latter he sometimes imitated Wouwerman, but though he painted them with neatness and delicacy, and not deficient in spirited action, they want the magic of that pencil. He died at Mortlake in 1702.

WOUWERMAN, PHILIP. In a work like the present, which is necessarily restricted, it is impossible to convey to the inquirer more than a general idea of the varied manner in which this inimitable artist has represented battles and skirmishes of cavalry, and other circumstances incidental to military operations. Some of his large pictures represent general engagements, in which cavalry and infantry are both hotly employed, each in its division according to military tactics, and warriors are seen contending with equal skill and bravery for the mastery of the field. The leaders are generally distinguished by a richer costume, and by being mounted on superb chargers, always contrasted in colour, the one being either gray or pied, the other perhaps black or deep chesnut. These seem to be rushing to single combat, as they are detached from the mêlée; the trumpeters and standard bearers are also conspicuous. The dead and dying, horses and men, strew the ground, and the greatest artistical skill is exhibited in the struggles and positions of the fallen

animals and their hapless riders. Other of his skirmishes are more episodical; as contests for the possession and defence of a standard, the accidental meeting of two detachments of cavalry near a wood, or in the vicinity of a fortified town, and the fight has more the appearance of irregular warfare than of a pitched battle; the combatants are paired, and various feats of prowess and of skill attract the attention of the spectator; a Turk, or a valorous African, is distinguishable among the parties by wild and furious action. In all these encounters the skill of the artist is conspicuous in the delineation of the horses and figures, according to their several positions and movements, and in the expression of the passions engendered by the fray. Encampments and meetings at sutlers' booths form other of his military subjects, and these are numerous, and being of smaller dimensions, are general favourites; a trumpeter sounding his instrument, or an officer discharging a pistol, is a frequent object in them. The subjects described formed but a small portion of the variety of his military pictures, and though he repeated each and every of them, the composition is always different; a duplicate by his pencil is not known.

FIELD SPORTS,

CHIEFLY STAG HUNTING AND HAWKING PARTIES.

BEELDEMAKER, JAN, painted wild boar and stag hunts, and other subjects connected with the chase. They are well treated, generally on a small scale, and on panel. He was born at the Hague in 1636, and died about 1669.

BERCHEM, or BERGHEM, NICHOLAS. His pictures of field sports include wild boar and stag hunts, hawking, and parties going out to the chase, or halting on their return. The scene is usually an open country with a river crossed by a bridge; on the one side may be seen the sportsmen and ladies gallantly mounted, the attendants with the dogs and hawks; on the other, groups of cattle with herdsmen, and a traveller or two on mules. The wild boar and stag hunts are represented in a more hilly country, richly wooded, with many figures mounted and on foot, accompanied by suitable dogs pursuing the game, and a dead stag lying in front, or the boar at bay in a thicket. The halt, or repose, is near a country inn, or other habitation; perhaps the workshop of a farrier, who is seen examining the foot of one of the horses; some of the party dismounted, and a lady elegantly habited, holding a hawk on her hand, and gracefully reining up a bright bay palfrey; or it may be near a sea-port, indicating the return, and the huntsman is seen coupling the dogs, and on the water are passage boats with various cattle. These subjects are represented in glowing summer or clear autumnal weather; nature herself seems to participate in the joyous hilarity. They are amongst the most esteemed of the artist's productions, and are to be found only in the richest collections. See the article Nicholas Berchem, under the head of Principal Painters; and also of Landscapes with Cattle and

Figures, and other subjects in the Alphabetical Classifications.

CUYP, ALBERT. Pictures by this admirable painter that class as hunting pieces, are rather preparations for than actual enjoyments of the chase. A sporting party mounted on beautiful horses are assembled near a wood, with a huntsman advising their proceedings; or halting in an open country in which is a winding river, and conversing with herdsmen in the care of cattle near the stream, and one of their party is seen in the distance galloping towards them: they all represent the departure, the halt, or the return. But these suppositions of hunting enabled the painter to exhibit his masterly powers in landscape, animals, and figures, and to invest the whole with the magical hues of nature. If the departure for the chase be a summer morning, while the sun is peering over the mountain tops, the dewy exhalations are rising and partly obscuring the distant objects; the refreshed brambles, docks, and other wild herbage, with which he profusely decorates his fore-grounds, begin to glitter with dew-drops as they catch the increasing rays. The halt near a river, in a meadow where cows and sheep and their keepers are reposing during the mid-day heat, enables him to spread his glorious sunshine on every object, and show in the distance a tower, a church, or other indications of a city. The return intimates the approach of evening, in the gradually subsiding heat of the atmosphere, the level rays in the horizon, and the lengthened shadows. Cuyp's pictures of this class may almost be deemed invaluable; they have been sold in public sales for sums varying from seven to twelve hundred guineas, and others in royal and noble galleries are estimated at two thousand and upwards.

See the article Albert Cuyp, under the head of Principal Painters; also Battle Painters, River Views, Landscapes and Cattle, and other classified divisions.

ESSELENS, JACOB, among other subjects, painted stag hunts, in a clear tone of colour and with a spirited touch. It is said that he was a scholar of Rembrandt, but it is not confirmed by his works.

FALENS, CHARLES VAN, painted landscapes with hunting subjects. See Imitators of Philip Wouwerman.

GAAL, BARENT, exercised his pencil on hunting pieces with his usual ability.

HONDIUS, ABRAHAM, painted wild boar, bear, and stag hunts, in a very spirited manner; he particularly excelled in dogs, in which he is little, if anything, inferior to Snyders or Fyt, and frequently reminds the observer of Velasquez. He was born in Holland in 1638, and died at London in 1695.

JACOBSZ, JURIAEN, born at Hamburgh, a scholar of Francis Snyders, is excellent in combats of wild animals and subjects of the chase, in which he shows so much knowledge of the art, and infuses such spirit, that he almost equals his celebrated master. He was born in 1610, and died in 1664.

JARDIN, or JARDyn, Karel du. There are very few pictures known by this master that may be absolutely termed hunting pieces, but several that have affinity with field. sports. One that belongs to a rich collection of an opulent commoner and tasteful amateur, represents a party assembled near a noble mansion, preparing for the chase. Some are mounted, and a beautiful white horse with yellow saddle and housings, is near a flight of steps, which a lady, assisted by a cavalier, is descending; and in front is a domestic carrying a scarlet cloak; attendants and dogs make up the composition. Other pictures merely represent a sportsman reposing, or baiting his horse at an inn door, and himself taking refreshment, or doing some act that indicates that he is returning from the field. In these pieces he seldom introduces any other animals but horses and dogs, and perhaps occasionally a mule with a male or female peasant, a goat and a few stray sheep. Such pictures, though generally small, are of high estimation. See Landscapes with Cattle and Figures, Exteriors, &c.

LAAR, PETER VAN, or DE LAER, called BAMBOCCIO, painted hunting pieces, in which he exhibits great skill in the forms and actions of his animals, and his usual vigorous penciling and rich tone of colour.

LINGELBACH, JAN, introduced subjects of the chase in the landscapes of other painters. He possessed such versatility of talent that he could accommodate his brother artists, who were not expert in the drawing of figures and cattle, with groups of both suited to the scenery of their pictures. Stag hunts and hawking parties are the most frequent of his