Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/19

 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE IN preparing an English version of Dr. Hofstede de Groot's great work, the translator has borne in mind the fact that John Smith's " Catalogue Raisonne," upon which this is based, has been for eighty years the indispensable companion of every English collector, dealer, and student interested in Dutch pictures. Smith's descrip- tions and criticisms have for them the charm of familiarity, and, though often imperfect as Dr. Hofstede de Groot shows will always retain much of their value, because the author had excep- tional facilities for seeing the best examples of the Dutch school, and was a keen and discriminating judge. The translator has therefore endeavoured, not so much to preserve the exact wording of Smith's descriptions, as to embody, wherever necessary, details noted by Smith, but omitted by Dr. Hofstede de Groot in the German -version. The translator has also been scrupulous in appending to numerous entries Smith's critical remarks on the pictures, which Dr. Hofstede de Groot has not thought it neces- sary to reprint ; in these cases Smith's opinions are enclosed within quotation marks, so as to be clearly distinguished from the opinions of his successor. The references made by Smith to engravers have been added. The measurements of the pictures, given in centimetres in the German version, have been reduced to inches for the convenience of English readers. In a few cases also the translator has been able, from personal observation, to correct or amplify Dr. Hofstede de Groot's descriptions of pic- tures in English collections, while, with the courteous assistance of Messrs. Thomas Agnew, Messrs. Dowdeswell, and Messrs. Xlll