Excerpt from Old Dutch and Flemish Masters: With Critical Notes There is another reason for the publication of these engravings, one held in view by the originators of the first series. It seems fitting and proper that a knowledge of Dutch art should be spread through the land by just such reproductions as these. People to day, though they do not sneer at Dutch art, are far from estimating it at its true worth. They cherish ideals and academic formulas of the beautiful, and are only too prone to overlook that truth, char acter, wholesome picturesqueness, and surprising skill for which Dutch art is famous. Even with those who profess a love for the Dutchmen, there is a tendency to elevate Dou above Hals and Potter above Cuyp. In brief, while people have been studying Greek and Italian art for years, the art of the Netherlands has been comparatively neglected, and to-day is not at all well understood, except by the few. The engravings of Mr. Cole, then, are oppor tune, in that they furnish materials for study. In the absence of the originals, which for various reasons the majority of people will never see, nothing could be better designed to take their place than these admirable reproductions. The pictures from which the engravings have been made were selected with the aim of giving the work of the representative men in Dutch and Flemish art. It was necessary, on account of the great extent of the Netherlands art, that a period only should be given, and so the brilliant painting of the seventeenth century furnished the originals for the engravings. The text that accompanies them, and Mr. Cole's comments, are intended to explain this seven teenth-century art, and to give some account of the history of the schools, and of the individual painters whose works are engraved. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.