_Willem van der Vliet_ (Dutch: 1584-1642).
Works by this artist are rare and very little known. He
belonged to Delft--a town as active in painting as in pottery.
This picture is signed and dated 1631.
An admirable portrait. The Jesuit father, here depicted with so much
quiet truth and skill, is a good representative of the great order
which had at that time saved the Papacy. He is a student, but the
crucifix is ever on his books. "The Jesuits appear," says Macaulay, "to
have discovered the precise point to which intellectual culture can
be carried without risk of intellectual emancipation." But he turns
round from his book and looks with a smile of tender sadness on the
spectator--he is ready to read your heart and to give you sympathy in
return for confidences.