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 (Band 9): Supplement (London: Smith and Son, 1842)

GERARD DOW.

15

45. The Water Doctor. This superlative picture represents
an elderly woman consulting a doctor, The empiric is here re-
presented as an aged man wearing a bluish velvet cap, a light
brown vest, and a robe of a dingy gray hue lined with purple
silk, and girt with a white scarf. He is engaged examining
with studious attention a urinal which he holds up to the
light, and, by the position of his hand, appears to be at the
same time explaining to the anxious parent the nature of the
malady, which is also indicated by a Cupid suspended above.
The latter person, dressed in a plain white cap, a yellow
gown, and a bluish apron, stands by with her hands united,
listening with emotion to the doctor's opinion. The subject
is seen passing at an arched window, on the sill of which are
a globe, a basin placed on a parchment document, a large
open book, a pestle and mortar, a silver candlestick, and a
bottle, and on a desk within the room and near an open win-
dow, are a skull and an open book, &c. A red curtain is
suspended above. Engraved in the Choiseul Gallery. See
No. 56, Vol. I.
\st. 11 in. by 1 st. 5 in.—P. (arched.)
Now in the Palace of the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

46. The Sparrow Bottle., A girl at an arched window,
with a brass pail on one arm containing vegetables, and her
left on the shoulder of a boy, who has a sparrow bottle in
his hand, from which he appears to have just taken a bird
and put it into a cage hanging at the side of the window ;
and both of them are looking with delighted countenances at
the little prisoner. A brass chandelier and a greenish cur-
tain are suspended above, and a bas-relief of boys adorns the
under part of the window. This is an exquisitely finished
picture. See No. 57, Vol. I.
9| in. by in.
In the Collection of the Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle.