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guilders per annum for the privilege of having the first offers of his pictures at the artist's own price. Of course there are very few anecdotes to be related of one so fully employed in the exercise of his art, and if there were many they would be out of place in this book; but there is one so characteristic of the man and the painter, and perhaps useful for artists to know, that it may be admitted. It is related that he entered his painting room with cautious steps, then reposed a while on his seat before opening the cabinet that contained the work on which he was employed, and where his painting implements and colours were securely enclosed. Even these precautions were not deemed sufficient, another pause was required for the subsidence of any dust or motes that might be floating in the chamber; then, and not till then, the colours were prepared and the painter resumed his labour.

The works of this master speak to the eye and the understanding; every one who sees them feels at once their truth and beauty; the well-informed in works of art give them their just tribute of praise; the unlearned, their admiration technical criticism would be superfluous.

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A very copious account of his works may be found in Smith's Catalogue Raisonné, vol. i., with much other information useful to the amateur.

SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS OF GERARD DOU.

DOMINICK VAN TOL was the nephew and scholar of Gerard Dou. He was his most successful copyist, and devoted the greatest part of his artistic career to that practice. His copies are very meritorious counterfeits, and as they were made during his uncle's life, had probably his concurrence and approval, but will not bear comparison with the originals in penciling or colouring. Some, however, have been sold, under his own name, at large prices, and others as originals at still larger. In his own compositions the manner more resembles that of Brekelencamp than of Gerard Dou. There are no other particulars respecting him recorded.

JAN ADRIAN VAN STAVEREN, if not a pupil, was a close imitator of Gerard Dou. The subject in which he excels, and by which he is best known, is a hermit, or anchorite, in

meditation or at devotion; the accessories are an open book, a skull, and moss or ivy covered tree; the scene, a wild sequestered spot with a cavern. In the character of the hermit he is very happy, his venerable beard and few remaining grey locks are minutely detailed; the moss and herbage have the fidelity of nature. For other matters relating to the artist, see the enlarged edition of Bryan's "Dictionary of Painters and Engravers."

GODFREY SCHALCKEN finished his studies in the school of Gerard Dou, and afterwards adopted a style peculiarly his own. See the article under his name.

PETER VAN SLINGELANDT was also a pupil of Gerard Dou. See the article under his name.

FRANCIS MIERIS was another pupil of Gerard Dou. See the article under his name.

MATHYS NEVEU, or NAIVEU, is said to have received some instruction from Gerard Dou; but of this there is little evidence in his works. He painted conversations and other domestic subjects, which are skilfully executed in design and colouring, and are much esteemed in Holland.

ADRIEN DE PAPE is said to have been a scholar of Gerard Dou, and sometimes closely approaches him, but his pictures in general have a greater resemblance to the manner of Brekelencamp.

KARL SLABBAERT, or SLABBARD, is conjectured to have been a scholar of Gerard Dou, from his manner of colouring and elaborate finishing. His figures, however, have more accordance with those of Ostade, but are not so well drawn. He practised about the middle of the 17th century.

B. MATON was a copyist both of Gerard Dou and Godfrey Schalcken, particularly in their candle-light pieces, in which he displays great force and brilliancy, but with less of finish than the originals. He has been too often deprived of the credit due to him, by the removal of his name for a nefarious purpose. His pictures are of small dimensions and on panel.

G. VAN HECKELL, who flourished about the year 1660, if not a pupil was a good imitator of Gerard Dou. He painted similar subjects, which are brilliantly coloured and highly finished, and the light and shadow skilfully managed.

LOUIS DE MONI imitated some of the smaller pictures of

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Gerard Dou; his handling is free, light, and firm, and he shows knowledge of chiaroscuro and colour.

PETER, or PAUL, VERHELST, or VANDER ELST, painted subjects in the manner of Gerard Dou, in candle and lamplight pieces, which he treated with great ability in all the component parts. They do not appear to be copies, or even studied imitations. He was born about 1614, and was living in 1659; so that there is great probability that he was a scholar of the master whose manner he imitated.

There are several other painters whose pictures have some analogy to Gerard Dou, but the foregoing are sufficient to direct the amateur in his examinations and comparisons. Perhaps some of these will appear again under the heads of other eminent masters remarkable for high finishing.

PETER VAN SLINGELANDT.

THIS artist was born at Leyden in 1640, and was a disciple of Gerard Dou. It is hardly conceivable that more pains could be taken in painting objects than is observable in the works of Gerard Dou; but the biographers have related that in patient application to minutiae the pupil outdid his master, whether with any superior result may be judged. The works of Slingelandt are evidences of his indefatigable patience, but can hardly be said to be of patience profitably bestowed. Three years devoted to one picture, not exceeding 20 inches by 16, and representing a family of four persons, and the usual accessories of a well-furnished Dutch apartment, must argue great slowness in the procedure, and want of genius in the painter, however skilful the mechanical execution. Pictures so laboured become mere objects of curiosity, by which admiration may be excited at the attention bestowed on trifles, but which seldom elicit the approbation of the judicious. As curiosities, however, they become valuable, and are sought for accordingly, and treasured as gems which none but the opulent can possess. The subjects painted by Slingelandt are in almost every respect similar to those by Gerard Dou; this has been rather to the disadvantage of his reputation, as many have been attributed to that master, the excessive care contributing largely to assist the delusion. The amateur may qualify himself to judge between them by

attentively examining and comparing their genuine and acknowledged works; this he must do for himself, or with the assistance of an experienced, disinterested, and judicious friend. Some of each are to be found in public galleries abroad, and in the collections of noblemen and wealthy gentlemen in England, particularly those of the Earl of Ellesmere and Sir Robert Peel. It cannot be denied that the pictures of Slingelandt are interesting for the quality they possess, and it would be unfair to draw a comparison, for the purpose of detraction, between him and his master, were it not necessary to guard the amateur against the deceptions too frequently practised by the unscrupulous. It may be observed that Gerard Dou is never feeble in drawing, expression, and effect; there is grandeur and truth in all his objects; Slingelandt deserves praise for the purity of his colouring, and for the laboured details and accuracy of his finishing. He died in 1691. Smith's Catalogue Raisonné describes about seventy of his pictures, which may be considered as the principal part of his works, but there are others of a less laboured character that occasionally appear, which are probably the production of his later years when poverty compelled him to greater expedition.

SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS OF SLINGELANDT.

JACOB VANDER SLUYS studied first under Ary de Voys, and finished his artistic education under Slingelandt. He copied the works of the latter with great exactness as regarded the objects, but with less of laboured polish. When he left the school, he selected for his subjects conversations of parties of an elevated grade, and interiors with domestic scenes, and in each will be found a manner analogous to his master's. His compositions are well managed, and his colouring good and pleasing; but he may be charged with inaccuracy in his drawing. He was born at Leyden in 1660, and died there in 1736.

JAN FILICUS, or FIELIUS, was also a scholar of Slingelandt. He imitated his style in portraits, and small conversation pieces; the latter are well composed and coloured, and much esteemed in Holland, but are not so well known elsewhere. He was born at Bois-le-Duc in 1660, and died in 1719.

FRANCIS MIERIS.

THIS exquisite painter, and most accomplished scholar of Gerard Dou, was born at Leyden in 1635. He was the son of a goldsmith, and showed an early inclination for the art of painting, contrary, however, to the wishes of his father. He was first placed with Tournevliet, a painter on glass, who was a good designer, and he made such progress under that master that his father became reconciled to his choice of profession. He next entered the school of Gerard Dou, where he was soon distinguished by his master as the prince of his disciples. His friends, apprehensive that he would confine his talents to painting small pictures, had him removed to the school of Vanden Tempel, an excellent portrait painter, where he remained but a few months, and then returned to his friend Gerard Dou, in whose style and subjects there was more congeniality with his own mind and views. On terminating his engagement with Dou he commenced on his own account, with similar subjects to those to which he had been accustomed, but varied his manner considerably from that of his instructor. His figures are designed with superior elegance, his colouring is more vivid and fresh, the quality of his stuffs in the dresses of his figures is distinctly defined, and no representation can surpass in truth the beauty of the silks, satins, and velvets; when he does not reach the power and richness of his master's colouring, he endeavours to make amends by breadth, clearness, and brilliancy. No artist of this highly finishing school has less of apparent labour than Francis Mieris, though every object in his pictures evinces the utmost attention to accurate detail; his penciling is so soft, delicate, and fluent, his colours so harmonized by union of tints, and the chiaroscuro resulting from these combinations is so fascinating, that the idea of labour never presents itself. Some writers have endeavoured to place the merits of Francis Mieris above those of Gerard Dou: this cannot be admitted: both masters have their excellences, and comparisons between them are invidious. Mieris estimated his time of painting at a ducat an hour, and was paid at that rate by his friend Cornelius Plaats, for whom he painted the picture of a lady fainting attended by a physician: the price

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