Pictures by Maes.—Nicholas Maes is represented in the Dupper Collection by The Spinner. The old woman is seated before her wheel in a simply furnished room, which is dimly lighted from a window on the left. Through this the fading daylight falls, illuminating the rich red of her costume and the dull colors of the table-cloth. There is something inexpressibly still, solemn, and charming about the figure, the room, and the light.
N. MAES
The Spinner
Another Spinner, in the Van der Hoop Collection, is seated by her wheel. She wears a black cap, and the sleeves of her dress are red. She stands out boldly from the brightly lighted wall. The lights and the figure are heavily impasted. The forehead of the old woman is in sunlight, the rest of the face is in shadow.
A very pleasing picture of his earlier period is The Dreamer, sometimes called Musing, representing a young woman who is looking out of a window. From her glance we gather that she has spied her lover, who is looking up to her casement, so gracefully decorated with apricots and peaches.
L. de Moni, an Imitator of Dou.—Louis de Moni (1698-1771) was a pupil of F. van Kessel and K. E. Biset at Breda, and later (1721-25) of Philip van Dijk at The Hague. Blanc says that this mediocre painter endeavored to resuscitate the long-extinct style of G. Dou and the elder Mieris, and to constitute himself their posthumous disciple. In this he only partially succeeded, but at least he exhibited, along with a certain delicacy of touch, great care and patience. More than once he borrowed a subject from Dou—familiar scenes, and small pictures of one or two figures. He is good in detail but poor in color. The Rijks has a small and pleasing picture of his called The Gardener.
J. Quinckhard.—Julius Quinckhard (1736-76) was a pupil of his father, Jan Maurits, but soon abandoned art for commerce. He was an able painter of portraits and genre nevertheless, as his Amateurs of Music (dated 1755) and Amateurs of Art (1757) attest. The figures in the latter are portraits of the painter and his friend, M. J. C. Ploos van Amstel.
Eight Pictures by Paul Potter in the Rijks.—Although there is nothing of Paul Potter's in the Rijks to compare in reputation with The Bull, or in beauty with La Vache qui se mire, there are no less than eight of his pictures there. Horses in a Meadow (1649) and Cows in a Meadow (1651), the latter having a dark sky that proclaims approaching rain, were acquired with the Van der Hoop Collection. The Shepherd's Hut, painted in 1645, is only ten inches long and six high, but is as brilliant in color as a Cuijp. The composition is simple: a shepherd guarding his cows and sheep is seated near his lowly dwelling. A Little Dog is dated 1653, as is also a Landscape with Cattle.
Description of The Bear Hunt.—An extraordinary picture is The Bear Hunt, eleven feet square. No one would ever imagine who the painter was if his signature were not in enormous letters on the trunk of a tree. This gigantic work was painted two years after The Bull and represents a gentleman on horseback and one on foot, six dogs, and two bears. The bloody contest is taking place in the foreground. This work was repainted during the first half of the nineteenth century, and only two dogs remain of the original painting.
Crowe's Opinion of Orpheus Charming Animals.—The celebrated Orpheus Charming Animals, painted in 1650, is much smaller (3 by 2 feet), and is much admired by critics. Crowe says: