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 3) (London: Smith and Son, 1831)

LIFE OF VAN DYCK.


ligent lessons soon opened to the comprehensive mind
of his scholar a simple system in the science of painting ;
when this is once acquired, the passage to a free exer-
cise of genius is clear, and the hand becomes a ready
agent to the creative mind. Stimulated by the excellent
examples he saw around him, and excited by a laudable
ambition, he soon attained a pre-eminence among his
fellow-students. This superiority was unanimously
acknowledged by their selecting him to restore an
injury which they, in a juvenile frolic, had accidentally
done to a newly-painted picture, then just left by their
master. In their eagerness to see this production, one
of them was pushed against it, and effaced an arm of
one of the figures in a large composition : such careless-
ness would have justly excited the displeasure of their
instructor, and as they were all equally culpable, so
were they all desirous of concealing their folly. Van
Dyck, with modest hesitation, undertook the task; and
completed it the same evening with such success, that
when Rubens entered the room, on the following
morning, as was his usual practice, he, so far from dis-
covering what had happened, is said to have actually
directed the attention of his scholars to the individual
arm, observing, that it was by no means the worst piece
of painting he had ever done. During a period of nearly
five years, he was actively engaged on the numerous
large pictures which were executed for Marie de Me-
dicis, the Jesuits’ church at Antwerp, and other public
buildings; and ultimately became such an accomplished
adept in imitating the style and colouring of his master,
that the latter candidly owned he could teach him
nothing more, and that the time had now arrived for