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 6) (London: Smith and Son, 1835)

MINDERHOUT HOBBEMA.

113

by his hand, was sold in the collection of De Heer
P. Caauw, in 1768, for 300 ssorins: the same picture
brought, in the sale of the Muller collection, at Amster-
dam, in 1827,13,075 ssorins, which, with 7^ per cent.
opgelt, or expenses, is little short of £.1200. Thus, the
works of Hobbema, like those of Cuyp, De Hooge, and
Art Vander Neer, were at one period held so cheaply
by their countrymen, that the speculator reaped an
abundant harvest by their importation to England, and
hence this country possesses by far the largest portion
of their works. In reference to the pictures by the
master of whom we are now treating, it may truly be
said that Holland has few left to boast of, and those few
are in the collections of wealthy individuals, who now
know their value ; for neither the Musee at Amsterdam,
or the Hague, or even the Louvre, possess a single
example.
It is supposed that Hobbema died about the year
1670, the latest date that the Writer has hitherto
discovered on his pictures, being 1669*.
* A single exception to this occurs on a picture described in
page 145, No. 88, of the artist’s works, on which are inscribed the
name of the painter, and date 1689 ; thus, if this be ready by the
hand of the painter (of which some doubt may be entertained,
although there can be none of the originality of the work), a lapse
of twenty years occurs, during which period Hobbema must either
have ceased to paint, or else to date his pictures, neither of which
is probable.

VOL. VI.

I