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medium between decision and softness" (Kugler's | oring. The Chemist, the Officer and the Young Lady,

"Handbook"). Sir Joshua Reynolds said of this work: "This is, perhaps, the first picture of portraits in the world, comprehending more of those qualities which make a perfect portrait than any other I have ever seen." In the Amsterdam Museum there are also other works by Van der Helst; notably a portrait of the Princess Mary, daughter of Charles I. of England. The Rotterdam Museum among others has a Cavalier and a Lady; and the National Gallery possesses a Lady Studying.

Gerard Dou (1613-1675) of Leyden, a pupil of Rembrandt, but of too original a genius to permit of his being classed among mere imitators, was at first a portrait painter; but afterward, adopting the anecdotal style, he began by treating small subjects with great breadth before he ascended, or descended, according to the taste of the critic, to extreme and minute delicacy.

This patient and laborious artist, who made his own brushes, pounded his own colors, and prepared his own varnish, panels, or canvas, worked, in order to avoid dust, in a studio opening on to a wet ditch.

The best work of Gerard Dou is in the Woman sick of the Dropsy, in the Louvre. The Empiric, in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg; the Charlatan on his Stage, in the Pinakothek, Munich, or an almost identical subject in the gallery at Buckingham Palace; the Evening School, in the Museum of Amsterdam-are among his chief productions. He frequently painted his own portrait. At Paris there is a Portrait with his palette and pencils; at Dresden another, playing on the violin, and one writing in a book; at Brussels, he is very young, drawing a statue of Love by the light of a lamp; in the National Gallery he holds a pipe in his hand; in the Amsterdam Gallery there is yet another. Many works by Dou are in the private galleries of Holland and England, and when sold fetch enormous prices. The Poulterer's Shop, in the National Gallery, is well worthy of mention, both for composition and execution. The same also has a Portrait of Dou's Wife.

Gabriel Metsu (1630-aft. 1667), although imitating both Gerard Dou and Terborch, yet succeeded in marking out a new route for himself, and in making himself original by the frankness of his touch, as well as the power, richness and harmony of his col

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terers, and the celebrated Lace-Maker, are in the Museum of Dresden, and another Poulterer is in the Museum of Cassel. The National Gallery has three works by Metsu: Duet, a Music Lesson, and The Drowsy Landlady.

Isack Jansz, van Ostade, (1621-1649?) the younger brother and pupil of the more celebrated Adriaan, is equal to his brother in a different line; and it is only in his genre that he remains his inferior. Adriaan doubtless is superior in the painting of little domestic or popular dramas, where the human being holds the first place; but Isack makes up for this by the representation of the natural scenes of these dramas; he is more of a landscape painter. He made for himself a specialty of those winter landscapes, as Van der Neer did of moonlight. He was, and still is, the first master in this peculiar walk of art. Two good Frost Scenes by Isack van Ostade are in the National Gallery, where is also a Village Scene by him; his works are seen in various private galleries of England, but they are rare on the Continent.

Hendrik Martenz Rokes (1621-1682), is called Sorgh, after his father, who is supposed to have obtained that sobriquet from the care with which he

THE SOLDIER AND THE LAUGHING MAIDEN. BY J. VER MEER. COLLECTION, PARIS.

conveyed the passengers on the passage-boat between Rotterdam and Dordrecht. Young Sorgh is said to have studied under Teniers the younger, at Antwerp, but his style is more akin to that of Adriaen Brouwer. His pictures represent the usual Dutch interiors and exteriors of this period. He may be studied in the National Gallery.

Jan Steen (1626-1679), of Leyden, first studied under Nicolas Knupfer at Utrecht, and subsequently under Van Goyen, whose daughter he married. At the Belvedere, Vienna, is a Village Wedding, and at Berlin, a Garden of an Ale-house, which are excellent scenes of burlesque comedy; at the Hermitage, the Game of Backgammon, where Steen has painted him

self in conversation with his wife, and an Ahasue rus touching Esther with his Golden Sceptre. In England, in the National Gallery, is the Music Master, and at Buckingham Palace, The Toilet, and a large number in private collections; at Rotterdam the Malade Imagi naire, and Tobit curing his Father; at the Hague, the celebrated Picture of Human Life, a large collection of about twenty persons executed in the finest manner of this ir regular master, and the Family of Jan Steen, another collection of a dozen life-like figures, lighted up as Pieter de Hooch would have done; in it we notice particularly the charming group of a very aged grandfather and a little urchin-the two childhoods of life; lastly, at Amsterdam, a very celebrated scene, called the Feast of S. Nicholas. There is also the excellent portrait that the painter has left of himself. Steen delighted in scenes of mirth and revelry; his works are characterized by broad humor and great technical abilities.

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FORMERLY IN THE DOUBLE

Jan ver Meer, a native of Delft (1632-1696 ?), is usually called "Ver Meer of Delft," to distinguish him from Van der Meer of Haarlem, and Van der Meer of Utrecht, both somewhat unimportant artists of whom little is known with certainty. Burger has done much to restore a place in the history of art for this distinguished painter, whose principal works have probably received the name of De Hooch since that painter has been restored to honor. Although the View of Delft-purchased for 5,000 florins-now in the Museum of the Hague, is a landscape treated

in the manner of Philips de Koninck, Van Meer adhered rather to Pieter de Hooch in the usual choice of his subjects and his use of effects. Two good works by Ver Meer are in the Six Collection at Amsterdam; the one is a View of a Street, probably in Delft, and the other a Milk-woman. Pictures by

this artist are highly prized. Queen Victoria possesses a fine work by him, entitled the Music Lesson. The Soldier and the Laughing Maiden is an excellent example of his style.

Frans van Mieris (1635-1681), entered the studio of Gerard Dou at Leyden, who was so pleased with his painting that he named him "the prince of his pupils." He afterward entered the studio of Abraham Tempel; but it

is Dou's influence which is

always seen in his work. Van

Mieris even surpassed his

teacher in his

careful elabora

tion of minute
subjects. He
might have been
a draper from
the accurate
knowledge
silks, satins, and
velvets, which
he displays. His
pictures are full

of

of careless, hap

great success. A Fish and Poultry Shop by him is in the National Gallery.

Kaspar Netscher (1639-1684), though a German by birth, belongs to the Dutch school of art. He was a pupil of Terborch, and painted chiefly at the Hague. His pictures are frequently met with in Continental Galleries. The National Gallery has three pictures by this artist: Blowing Bubbles, Maternal Instruction and a Lady seated at a Spinning Wheel.

He had two sons-Theodorus Netscher (16611732), who painted for some years in England, and was celebrated for his portraits and also for his flower-pieces; and Konstantin Netscher (1670-1722), who painted

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py, good-humored life, like most of those of the Dutch School; there is no emotion, no feeling in his works; the outside is admirably depicted, but it is nothing but outside. Among the best pictures by Van Mieris are A Doctor feeling a Lady's pulse, of the year 1656 (Belvedere, Vienna), a Lady Fainting in the presence of the doctor (Munich Gallery), The Tinker (Dresden Gallery), a Boy blowing Soapbubbles, dated 1663 (The Hague)-a similar work is at Buckingham Palace. In the National Gallery, which is not rich in Dutch masters, is a picture of a Lady in a Crimson Jacket. Almost nothing is known of his life; he died at Leyden in 1681.

We may here notice his son and pupil, Willem van Mieris (1662-1747), who imitated his father with

whole month to paint a lace band.
important is in the Louvre, the
Meerman family).

portraits and interiors at the Hague.

Pieter van Slingeland (1640-1691), was a pupil of Gerard Dou, but was far inferior to Van Mieris. His pictures are most minutely finished. He took, it is said, three years to cover a piece of

canvas one foot square, and a One of the most Dutch Family (the

Godfried Schalken (1643-1706), is celebrated for his candle-light effects. He visited England during the reign of William III. The National Gallery in London has one picture by this painter-Lesbia weighing Jewels against her Sparrow. Of his portraits. we may notice one of King William III. by candlelight, in the Amsterdam Gallery.

Eglon van der Neer (1643-1703), the son of Aart van der Neer, painted conversation pieces, after the manner of Terborch and Mieris. His works are very scarce, both in England and on the Continent. Pieter de Hooch (ab. 1632-aft. 1681), the great

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