Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 3, 1910.djvu/11

PREFACE THIS volume contains the descriptions of the works of Frans Hals, the two Ostades, and Adriaen Brouwer. It has been compiled on the same principles as were followed in the first and second volumes, to the prefaces of which it is enough to refer. But I must make some remarks on two points. The first is the relation of the English edition to the German. The English edition contains additions, especially on pp. 224- 246 of the second volume, for which I cannot assume any responsibility. Several of the pictures there attributed to A. Cuyp were known to me, but had been purposely omitted because I did not and do not believe in their authenticity. Arrangements have been made to avoid such differences between the two editions in future. In the second place, I must say a few words about the reviews of the first and second volumes. A large number of them testify in general terms to the usefulness of such a work, without examining the volumes critically. Of those which subject the work to a close scrutiny I may name three : namely, the notice by Dr. A. Bredius in the Repertorium fur Kunstwissenschaft^ vol. xxxi. p. 8 1, and vol. xxxii. p. 82 ; the anonymous review in the Athenaeum of August 8, 1908 ; and the notice by E. W. Moes in the Zentralblatt fur Kunstwissemchaftliche Literatur, 1909, p. 147. To these critics I am grateful not only for their commendation but also and in a still greater