Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/439

in GERARD DOU 415 202a. An Old Man reading a Newspaper. M. 316^. At an arched window, an old man, with a fur cap on his head and a lighted candle in his hand, sits reading the newspaper. Near him is a candlestick. Panel, 8| inches by 6| inches. Sale. J. W. Barchman Wuytiers, Utrecht, September 17, 1792, No. 17 (24 florins, Cotterel). 203. A Man by Lamplight. A man wearing a round hat sits with a book open before him, by lamplight. Panel, 12^ inches by 10^ inches, in a glass case. Sale. Amsterdam, April i, 1833, No. 39 (800 florins, Roos). 204. A Man cutting a Pen, by Candlelight. M. 319. Somewhat cracked. Panel, io| inches by 6 inches. Sale. Schloss Loo collection, Amsterdam, July 26, 1713, No. 33 (335 florins). 205. An Old Man cutting a Pen. Sm. 19 ; M. 318. The old man sits at a table, with a lighted lamp to the right. An hour-glass, papers, and a lantern are on the table, at which an old woman sits with her back to the spectator. Panel, i inches by 8 inches, with rounded top. In the possession of the London dealer Woodburn, 1829 (Sm.). 206. THE NIGHT-SCHOOL. Sm. 79; M. 320. In a large room with a window to the left and a curtain drawn back in the right upper corner, the schoolmaster sits on the left at a desk placed on a table. He shakes a warning finger at a boy, with hat in hand and satchel under his arm, who turns away. At the table a girl, seen in profile to the left, stands reading, by the light of a candle near her, a paper to which the master points with his right hand. In the left foreground sits a boy writing on a slate. A girl holding a candle stands beside him. Over their heads hangs an unlit lantern ; another lantern which is lighted stands on the floor in the centre foreground. In the right background some pupils sit at work by candlelight. At the back another figure with a candle seems to be standing on a staircase. " Nothing in art can surpass the magical effect of light and shade in this picture. . . . Some connoisseurs consider this as the most capital of his works, since the loss of the famous Braamcamp picture (113) . . . but the writer is not of that opinion, as several of the artist's pictures possess much higher finishing and are more agreeable both in composition and effect " (Sm.). Signed in full ; panel, 20 inches by 16 inches. See Martin, ch. ii. An old copy was in the collection of E. G. May, Frankfort-on-the-Main. In the De Bye collection, Leyden, 1665, No. 8. Sales. De la Court van der Voort, Leyden, September 8, 1766, No. 19 (4000 florins, Mossel). G. van der Pot, Rotterdam, June 6, 1808, No. 28 (17,500 florins, Joh. Eck for the Amsterdam Museum). Now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1904 catalogue, No. 705 (old No. 276).