_Gerard Dou_ (Dutch: 1613-1675).
Dou, who stands at the head of the Leyden School, is
remarkable for the patient industry which he devoted to his
work, and which was rewarded by his attainment of wonderful
mastery in delicate execution. "Mr. Slap-dash whips out his
pocket-book, scribbles for five minutes on one page, and
from that memorandum paints with the aid of the depths of
his consciousness the whole of his picture. Not so the true
follower of Gerard Dou. To him the silent surface with the
white ground is a sacred place that is to tell on after ages,
and bring pleasure or power or knowledge to hundreds of
thousands as silently. No eyes, emperor's or clown's, telling
the other that they have been there. It is worth this man's
while to spend a whole sketch-book, if need be, over one
twelve-inch panel" (_Letters of James Smetham_, p. 173). With
Gerard Dou "a picture was a thing of orderly progression,
even as the flowers of spring gradually unfold their leaves
and buds and blossoms to the sun. He hurried his work for no
man, but moved with a princely ease, as much as to say to the
world, 'Other men may hurry as they please, from necessity or
excitement; but Gerard Dou at least chooses to think, and to
perfect his works until he has satisfied himself.'" At first
he worked at portrait-painting, but his manner was too slow to
please his sitters. "The wife of a wealthy burgomaster paid
the penalty of possessing a fair white hand by having to sit
five long days while the painter transferred it to canvas. Had
his patrons come into the world for no other purpose than to
serve Gerard Dou, he could not have dissipated their time with
greater indifference. The cheek of his fair model would grow
pale with hunger and fatigue while he was rounding a pearl on
her neck" (968). Afterwards Dou devoted himself to scenes of
indoor _genre_, and herein "he spent as much time in imitating
an indentation on a copper stewpan as he devoted to a dimple
in the refulgent cheek of beauty. Each object he transcribes
is sharp or dull, transparent or opaque, rounded or squared,
as it ought to be. The texture is always given with exactness,
even to the minute threads in a costly robe. He paints goblets
of wine which would tempt an ascetic. His gentlemen smoke
such delicately moulded clay pipes with so much serenity that
smoking in his pictures is invested with all the grace of an
accomplishment. He carried his neatness and love of order into
his studio. Other painters were content to sit at an easel of
plain deal--Gerard Dou must have one of ebony, inlaid with
mother-of-pearl. He locked up his colours in a costly cabinet
as if they had been rubies, emeralds, and brilliants of the
first water. On arriving in front of his easel, he is said
to have paused for a few moments to allow the dust to settle
before he uncovered the picture" (Merritt's _Art Criticism and
Romance_, i. 170). The German painter Sandrart relates that he
once visited Dou's studio and admired the great care bestowed
by the artist on the painting of a broomstick. Dou remarked
that he would still have to work at it for three days more. The
history of his pictures is a remarkable instance of industry
rewarded. In his lifetime an amateur of the name of Spiering
used to pay him one thousand florins a year--in itself a good
income--for the mere privilege of having the first offer of
his pictures; and since his death their value has steadily
increased. Of his life, beyond what has been stated above,
little is known. He was the son of a glazier at Leyden, and was
apprenticed successively to an engraver and a glass-painter.
At the age of fifteen he entered the studio of Rembrandt, with
whom he remained three years. He lived nearly all his life in
his native town. Among his pupils were Schalcken (199), Mieris
(840), and Metsu (838).
This fine portrait is painted (says Sir Edward Poynter) in a style
unusually large and free for the master.