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)

GODFREY SCHALCKEN.

This clever painter was born at Dort, in 1643, and
commenced his studies, in the arts, under Samuel Van
Hoogstraeten, with whom it is probable that he re-
mained but a short time, for his works bear no resem-
blance to those of that painter’s. He afterwards
entered the school of Gerard Dow, where he found
a style and manner of painting so congenial with his
own taste, that he ultimately rendered himself so profi-
cient in the science and mechanism of the art, as
practised by that distinguished master, that, when he
quitted, he had the reputation of being one of his
best pupils.
The beautiful effects produced by Rembrandt being
then the general theme of praise, and of almost universal
admiration, among artists and amateurs, may be said to
have produced a new era in art; Gerard Dow had
already seized and embodied its charms in his pictures,
and Schalcken, like many others, attempted to imitate
them ; his genius, however, was unequal to the task, and
instead of depicting the magical effects of the bright
luminary of day, or the brilliant and diversified efful-
gence of artificial light, he ultimately bounded his