472 
at Windfor, which fran numbers of the 
vifiters at the Cafile, has obtained move 
attention than any other painting in the 
room, from its being delineated by a man 
that the venerable perfon who defcribes 
the works of the different artifts informs 
us was a blackfmith, until he was more 
than twenty years of age, when he fcll in 
Inve with a painter’s. daughter, and ftu- 
died the art until be become. eminent 
enough to demand her in marriage, &c. 
BARTRHOLOMEW VANDER HELST. 
<4 Family Portrait ; 7 feet 3 inches bigh, 5 feet 
Q inches wide 3 and three ctber Portraits of 
other Charaéers. 
Thefe portraits are extremely well 
painted. The Family Picture, and that 
of a Prince of Nafiau, are exquifitely fine. 
Some of Vander Helft’s countrymen clafs 
him with Vandyke ; but great as his me- 
rit is, it is not of quite fo high a caft— 
Sir Godfrey Knellew was profufe in his 
commendation of many of his pitures ; 
and the judgment of fo eminent a matter 
in the fame branch of the art, isa fuffi- 
cient atteflation of the merit of Vander 
Heltt. 
ABRAHAM JANSENS. 
Allegorical Painting of Mirth and Melancholy 3 
3 feet 8 inches wide by 3 feet high. 
There are painters who, in attempting 
to excite melancholy, delineate figures 
that creace difguft; for though this pic- 
ture is coriectly and forcibly drawn, and 
difplays a large portion of truth ard ng- 
ture, and it weuld be unjaft to fay that 
the dramatis perfonae are not characteriftic, 
yet they excite no agreeabie fenfation.— 
Mirth is mine hoft Bonnifacein petticoats, 
and Melancholy fo miterably morbid and- 
fqualid, thar it becomes bodily difealg, 
and creates a naufea. 
CORNELIUS POLEMBURG. 
Diana and her Nymphs furprifed by AGleon ; 
painted on wood, 1 feet: 41 inches high, 1 
fost five inches wide. . 
This fubje& is exaétiy confonant to the 
tafte and pencilling of this falcinating and 
moft agrecable artift, who furpafied all bis 
contemporaries in the delicacy of his 
touch, the fweetn-{s of his cclouring, and 
the choice of agreeable objects and fitua- 
tions. He generally reprefented his fe- 
male figures naked, frequently bathing, 
and they are invariably elegant and beau- 
Lhe Truchfefs’ Gallery. 
tiful forms. His fmall pictures are de= 
fervedly held in the higheft eftimation. 
ADRIAN BROUWER. 
1. Gipfey Fortune Tellers 5 1 foot 1o inches high 
by 1 foot 8 inches wide. - 
2. Boors Drinking 5 9 inches high by 7 inches 
Wille. 
3- 4 Man and Woman Reading 5 11 inches 
bigh by gy feet wide. : 
This artift was a pupil to Franeis Hals, 
- under whofe inftruStions he became an in- 
imitable artift, and diftinguifhed himfelf 
by painting fubjcéts generally felected 
from low life, but always ftudicd frora 
nature; fuch as droll converfations, fealts, 
taverns, drunken quarrels, boors playing 
at cards, difputing, &c,- The courfe of . 
his ftudies naturally led him into firange 
fociety, and his tafte feems to have been {o 
fimilar to that of his companions, that 
(like one of the moft eminent artifts of our 
own country,) he imbibed their manners, 
and impaired his health by a diffolute and 
dflipated courfe of life. He died at only 
thirty-'wo years of age, and was buried 
in a very obfcure manner; but Rubens 
hearing of the circumftance, ordered his 
body to be taken up and interred ina ftyle 
more worthy of his abilities, in the church 
of the Carmelites at Antwerp. : 
Thefe three pi&tures are painted ina 
fiyle worthy of the artift, whole genera] 
expreffion is fo full of life and character, 
the management of his colours {o fur- 
prifing, and fo much truth, united with 
exquilite high finifhing, appears in all his 
works, as places him in the very firft 
rank among the painters of the Low 
Countries. 
JOHN VAN GOYEN. — 
1. Landfcape, with a River; 3 feet 2 inches 
high by « fost 10 inches wide. 
2. Landfcape and Cottage 5 2 feet high by 1 foot 
4 inches wide. } 
Thefe two land{capes have great merit ; 
but, like moft of the works of this mai. 
ter, have a greyith calt, which artifts fay 
did not arife from any mifmanagement of 
the tints, or any want of fkill in laying on 
the colours, but was occafioned by his 
ufing a colour called Haerlem blue, much 
approved of at that time, but now en- 
tirely difufed. His belt works are highly 
valued in this country, and in mot parts 
of Europe, efpecially in the Low Coun, 
tries, they afford large prices, being 
marked with a free, expeditious, and 
eaiy pencil, and alight touch. Cee 
r STATE 
