DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62941#0377
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SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS
OF
ALBERT CUYP.
Whether the difficulty of imitating the style and peculiar
effect of this admirable painter’s works, or the little encourage-
ment held out for so doing by the patrons of the arts at that
period, or, perhaps, both combined, prevented the appearance
of any tolerable imitator, or even successful copyist, is a ques-
tion that cannot now be decided : but, if an opinion might be
hazarded, the latter reason seems to be the more probable of
the two; for after the sale of the Van Slingelandt collection,
in 1785, when the prices paid for pictures on that occasion,
and the consequent increasing demand for them, rendered their
acquisition a prositable object of speculation, several ingenious
painters were prompted to copy and imitate them ; and among
the most successful in this pursuit may be noticed the two
following.
Jacob Van Stry, a native of Bort, born in 1756. His
father, who was a dyer and ornamental painter, had also the
reputation of being a connoisseur in pictures; from him Jacob
acquired a knowledge of the rudiments of drawing, and with
it imbibed a taste for the arts; so that, contrary to his father’s
original intentions, he declined following his parent’s trade,
and devoted himself exclusively to the arts. According to his
own account, his first master was Andrew Lens, an historical
painter, residing at Antwerp ; and while under his tuition he
SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS
OF
ALBERT CUYP.
Whether the difficulty of imitating the style and peculiar
effect of this admirable painter’s works, or the little encourage-
ment held out for so doing by the patrons of the arts at that
period, or, perhaps, both combined, prevented the appearance
of any tolerable imitator, or even successful copyist, is a ques-
tion that cannot now be decided : but, if an opinion might be
hazarded, the latter reason seems to be the more probable of
the two; for after the sale of the Van Slingelandt collection,
in 1785, when the prices paid for pictures on that occasion,
and the consequent increasing demand for them, rendered their
acquisition a prositable object of speculation, several ingenious
painters were prompted to copy and imitate them ; and among
the most successful in this pursuit may be noticed the two
following.
Jacob Van Stry, a native of Bort, born in 1756. His
father, who was a dyer and ornamental painter, had also the
reputation of being a connoisseur in pictures; from him Jacob
acquired a knowledge of the rudiments of drawing, and with
it imbibed a taste for the arts; so that, contrary to his father’s
original intentions, he declined following his parent’s trade,
and devoted himself exclusively to the arts. According to his
own account, his first master was Andrew Lens, an historical
painter, residing at Antwerp ; and while under his tuition he