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 7) (London: Smith and Son, 1836)

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SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS OF

be considered as genuine works. But however excellent such
pictures may be, they will be found, when analyzed, very
deficient in the higher qualities of Rembrandt’s productions:
such as expression, gradation, and vigorous execution. It
may be questioned, whether the artist now under notice be
the same who painted subjects taken from common life, in
small, or of a cabinet size, representing Mountebanks, Fruit
and Fish Stalls, and Villagers at their daily occupations; if
they are by the same hand, they must have been produced at
a later period of his life, as they are so far removed from the
manner of Rembrandt as at no time to be mistaken. Jan
Victor also painted a few cabinet pictures of subjects taken
from sacred history, these are generally finished in a neat and
careful manner, and partake of the Rembrandtic effect of
colour. One of this class, representing the Family of Tobit,
is in the Bridgewater Collection, Lord F. Egerton; and of
the former class there is one representing a Fruit Market, in
the collection of De Heer Six, which cost, a few years back,
in a sale at Enkhuysen, upwards of 150 gs.
Jan Victor is supposed to have been born about the year
1600, and to have died in 1670.
De Wette. The works of this artist are the only memo-
randa that the Writer has been able to discover, of such a
painter having existed. They usually represent subjects taken
from sacred and profane history, done of a cabinet size, and
composed of many figures about six inches in height. These
are sufficiently like the style of Rembrandt to induce a belief
that he studied under that master; but although his name is
sometimes applied to them in sale catalogues, they are too far
removed in the necessary properties from his works, to become
for an instant of a doubtful character. The predominant
colour of his pictures is a dense brown, merging into a foxy
hue, and these appear to have eaten or destroyed the half tones,
so that the compositions are frequently devoid of principle in