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 4) (London: Smith and Son, 1833)

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GONZALES COCQUES.

open vestibules, or on the terraces of noble mansions,
and in gardens; always displaying a fine taste in the
decorative and accessorial parts of his pictures. He
also availed himself of the elegant costume of the
Spaniards (then the prevailing fashion at Antwerp), to
give picturesque effect and beauty to his figures; and
seldom omitted to enliven his subjects with greyhounds,
spaniels, and other kinds of dogs, as he painted them
with surprising spirit and truth.
Gonzales may be said to have attained a degree of
perfection in his peculiar branch of art, that we look for
in vain in any other master. His figures, although
always of a small size, are admirably drawn, and possess
the air, grace, and dignified expression of those by
Van Dyck, being also executed with the same masterly
freedom of handling, colour, and effect; and, like that
great painter, he gave to his infants and children a
most engaging naivete of expression, with a corres-
pondent infantine simplicity of action.
The extraordinary paucity of this interesting artist’s
works, can only be accounted for, by supposing that he
was a person in affluent circumstances ; and that he
practised painting rather as an amusement, than as
a professional pursuit. For although his pictures are
evidently the result of much study, they are painted
in a style which has the appearance of facility and
dispatch ; add to which, he occasionally procured the
assistance of other skilful artists ; and hence in some
of his most estimable pictures will be found, a richly
wooded Landscape, by Artois; a splendid Mansion, by
Ghering; the Interior of Apartments, by Steenwyck;