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 5) (London: Smith and Son, 1834)

366 SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS OF
also studied drawing, in the academy of that city. On his
return to Bort, he became acquainted with M. Danser Nyman,
an artist and picture dealer of some eminence at Amsterdam,
from whom it is said he received advice and encouragement;
and it is also probable that this friend directed his attention
to the advantage to be derived from studying the pictures by
Cuyp, as it was about that period they were rising into note.
Be this as it may, Van Stry took that master’s works for his
models, and ultimately attained the skill of copying and
imitating them with wonderful success ; so that many of his
productions, after being artfully disguised by dirt and varnish,
were sold as original works by Cuyp. But, in addition to this,
he was frequently employed to introduce figures and cattle
into the genuine pictures by that master, either for the purpose
of improving their composition, or to please the fancy of the
owner. It must however be confessed, that notwithstanding
the assiduity with which he evidently studied the works of
Cuyp, and the success which has attended many interested
persons in imposing his productions on the inexperienced as
genuine pictures by that master, he has, in every instance,
fallen far short of those peculiar beauties which constitute the
great charms of his prototype. In addition to a prevailing
mannerism and hardness of outline, which runs through all his
pictures, there is an evident deficiency of that mingling of the
warm and cool tints, so essential in painting; and, what is still
more censurable than either, is a frequent want of truth in his
gradations, and consequently an absence of atmospheric effect.
These defects are in general so palpable, that the sale of his
pictures under the name of Cuyp must of necessity be very
limited, under the improved state of the knowledge of art.
Van Stry has, in some few instances, attempted the style of
Both and Du Jardin, but in neither of which has he been
successful. His biographers speak of him as a man of excellent
character, possessing a quick penetration, and endowed with
considerable knowledge of arts and literature. For many