Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/362

 338 GERARD DOU SECT. scenes represented are usually laid in interiors, rarely in the open air, as, for example, at the market. A special branch of Dou's art is the series of subjects enclosed in an arched window or so-called " niche " a device which he made popular ; there is, too, his series of scenes with artificial light. His contemporaries prized Dou very highly. Foreign princes sought, in his own lifetime, to acquire pictures by him, especially Queen Christina of Sweden, whose agent at The Hague paid a sum of money for the right of pre-emption on all that Dou painted. The States of Holland included among their presents to King Charles II. on his restoration to the English throne one of Dou's masterpieces, " The Young Mother," now at The Hague (no). Although, because of his laborious method, Dou painted with a slow- ness that has become proverbial, he nevertheless left behind him a large number of pictures which are now scattered throughout Europe and North America. Dou attains neither the humour and the skill in characterisation of Jan Steen nor the elegance of Ter Borch or Metsu. But he stands so far above the crowd of his imitators whose degenerate work is notable only for its empty smoothness, he possesses such great talent for rendering textures, and so highly developed a knowledge of aerial perspective, and he infuses such an air of peace and comfort into his scenes from everyday life, that he will always retain his place among the great masters of the Dutch school. In recent years pictures by Dou from the Six collection and the Hope gallery at Deepdene have changed hands for huge sums, ranging from ^12,500 to 17,500 apiece. In Dou's portraits the delicate perception of character is lacking ; absorbed in mere details he lost sight of the whole, and his sitters, according to Sandrart, became impatient of the endless sittings. Dou's colouring is usually sober. Except in a comparatively small number of pictures, in which a vivid red injuxtaposition with blue, green, or yellow tones has a somewhat irritating effect, Dou usually subordinates his local colours with much skill to the general scheme j this is naturally the case with most of his numerous night-pieces. It is well known how careful Dou was in preparing his colours, in laying on his paint according to a method, and in avoiding every speck of dust. The best work on G. Dou is the doctoral dissertation by W. Martin, " Het leven en de werken van G. Dou, beschouwd in verband met het schildersleven van zijn tijd," 1901, of which an English translation was published in 1902.