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)

DAVID TENIERS.

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panied by his wife and children, is evidence that he
found his happiness in domestic society. Whether his
connexions in life and education were of a superior kind
is not known, as his biographers merely state, that he
was born at Antwerp in 1610, and that he was in-
structed in the knowledge of the art by his father ; it is
also said that he subsequently studied under Brouwer ;
but this statement is by no means certain, as that artist
was only his senior by two years. It is much more
likely, that the admiration which Brouwer’s pictures at
one time excited tempted Teniers to imitate them.
It may also be doubtful whether he ever became a
scholar of Rubens, though he may have learnt much
from studying his colouring, and its general arrange-
ment.
The prospects of Teniers, at his commencement, were
far from encouraging : he had to struggle many years
with difficulties, and to witness with mortification the
preference given to the works of Tilbourg, Artois, and
Van Heil. Whether this neglect arose from his pro-
ductions being of a brown tint, like that of his father’s
pictures, or that the novelty of his style was not un-
derstood, cannot now be determined. The Archduke
Leopold William, a great admirer and patron of the art,
is said to have been the first to appreciate his talents.
By order of this prince, he painted a great number of
capital pictures, and was also employed by him to col-
lect paintings of the Italian and Dutch schools, to en-
rich his gallery ; many of these he afterwards copied,
and he also published a volume of prints engraved from
them, entitled Theatrum Pictorium, &c. &c. For these
services the duke rewarded him in a suitable manner, and