En which is included a short Biographical Notice of the Artists, WITH A COPIOUS DESCRIPTION OF THEIR PRINCIPAL PICTURES; A STATEMENT OF THE PRICES AT WHICH SUCH PICTURES HAVE BEEN SOLD A REFERENCE TO THE GALLERIES AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS, IN WHICH A LARGE PORTION ARE AT PRESENT; AND THE NAMES OF THE ARTISTS BY WHOM THEY HAVE BEEN ENGRAVED; TO WHICH IS ADDED, A BRIEF NOTICE OF THE SCHOLARS & IMITATORS OF THE GREAT MASTERS OF THE ABOVE SCHOOLS: BY JOHN SMITH, DEALER IN PICTURES. PART THE THIRD. London: PUBLISHED BY SMITH AND SON, 137, NEW BOND STREET. MDCCCXXXI. ༡. PREFACE. If the present volume offer less variety of subjects than the two preceding, it may be found, by many, more interesting, as the greater portion is occupied with descriptions of portraits of distinguished persons of the Venetian, Genoese, and Tuscan States; of the Courts of Albert and Ferdinand of Belgium; of Charles I. of England, and his family, as well as of the nobility and public characters of Great Britain; and also of the most eminent artists and other celebrated persons of the same period. Memoranda of the lineaments of those who have rendered themselves conspicuous by their military achievements and political conduct, during the reign of Charles I., and of the literary characters of that age, must in all succeeding times be interesting, even if presented by the pencil of a very ordinary painter; but when such are conveyed to posterity by the hand of an artist so preeminent as Van Dyck, they acquire a double value, from the assurance of their being correct likenesses of the persons, and also as exhibiting fine examples of art. Those who have not bestowed attention on the nature of portraiture, may suppose, that numerous instances of excellent portrait painters might be adduced as proofs |