(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)
SIR,--The Dutch painters of the present day differ very materially from
the English, not only in their method of manufacturing pictures, but also
in their personal appearance. The following is an extract from the private
journal of a friend, who has recently been in Holland.
Yours, &c. G.W.N.
"You would be rather surprised on first entering a painting-room here.
Your eye is struck with the appearance of a dozen slovenly attired
fellows, who are variously engaged, some in beginning pictures, some in
finishing, &c. The window, which is remarkably large, and situated so as
to command a good prospect from without, admits light sufficient to
illuminate the room, or rather _shop_, which shop is at least fifteen feet
long. Casting your eye up towards the ceiling, which is equally lofty with
the length of the apartment, you are somewhat at a loss to account for a
vast quantity of beams, cordage, pullies, and canvasses, all appearing to
have their several uses, and all kept in regular order by a man for that
purpose. The canvasses, in truth, are no other than finished pictures,
which have been drawn up by the pullies to the beams, for the purposes of
drying, &c. The Dutch do not, as the English do, paint one picture on one
cloth; no, they have a much more expeditious method. A large piece of
canvass is procured, on which the artist commences his labour, and, in a
progressive manner, begins and finishes sometimes a dozen pictures at
once. In a kind of _boudoir_, an attendant is employed continually in
grinding colours, &c. For my own part, I own I was much amused with the
great variety which this curious _coup d'oeil_ presented; but I could not
remain long, for the painters, even while they were at work, smoked
continually. The Dutch, it should be observed, carry on a considerable
traffic in pictures with the Chinese and other eastern nations."
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