Smith, John: A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters: in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures : a statement of the prices at which such pictures have been sold at public sales on the continent and in England; a reference the the galleries and private collections in which a large portion are at present; and the names of the artists by whom they have been engraved; to which is added, a brief notice of the scholars & imitators of the great masters of the above schools (Part 2) (London: Smith and Son, 1830)

358

SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS.

was first developed by his skill in painting on glass, but fie
soon discovered that this pursuit was both limited and un-
certain in its results; he therefore quitted it to enter the school
of Rubens, where his genius received a suitable direction, and
his zealous study and application were attended with corre-
sponding success. Like the rest of his fellow-students, his
pencil was soon made available by the intelligent lessons of his
instructor, and the examples of those around him. The su-
perior education he had previously received, and a journey
made to Italy, gave him advantages of which he early exhibited
proofs, by a ready invention, which, added to a perfect know-
ledge of drawing and great dexterity in handling, enabled him
to surpass most of those in the same school with himself. His
historical productions, both in large and small, are very nu-
merous, as are also his designs for frontispieces of books and
vignettes; these latter are painted in a free sketchy manner,
approaching the style of his master, with this difference, how-
ever, that his forms are more meagre, his composition less
united, and his expression very inferior. Upon the whole, his
general style and colouring approach nearer to Van Dyck’s
than to those of Rubens. He was born at Bois-le-Duc, in 1607,
and died in 1675, aged sixty-eight.
Jacques Jokdaens. This excellent painter was born at
Antwerp, in 1594, and became a scholar of Adam Van Oordt,
whose vicious conduct and brutal manners disgusted Rubens,
and corrupted Jordaens. Upon quitting this master he entered
the studio of Rubens, under whom he acquired a style of
painting and colouring which approaches very near to those
of his master, and ultimately proved, by numerous original
productions, that he inherited a genius of no common order.
There can be little doubt that, had he received a suit-
able education, and been properly initiated into the science
of the art by his first instructor, he would have become an
artist of great eminence. This opinion is supported by many
excellent historical pictures, composed in a style little inferior