quoifs and stomachers," and "perfume for a lady's chamber."
Dutch Seventeenth-Century Etchers.—Of Dutch seventeenth-century etchers there is more than enough to satisfy the poor collector. The Angler, (facing p. 70) is from an etching by Adriaen van Ostade, cost the writer 5s. The Humpbacked Fiddler, The Wife Spinning, The Spectacle Seller, The Child with a Doll, are all well-known etchings by him. These etchings are in the manner of Rembrandt, though a long way removed in style. Prices of Ostade vary from anything up to £10. But since the taste for collecting him has grown less fashionable his prices are more often shillings than pounds.
Ruisdael's etchings command higher prices, but Adrian Verboom, Seghers, Waterloo, Roghman, Everdingen, Bega, Dusart, Backhuysen, Berghern (some of the minor plates), Zeeman, Jan Both, K. du Jardin, and Paul Potter, though the last, like Ruisdael, is much sought after, are all within the limits of the beginner's estimate as to expenditure.
Some of these men, Ostade in particular, worked contemporaneously with Rembrandt, and most of them are strongly influenced by his work. It is a period too little regarded by the average collector, whose love of prettiness has been exploited by fashionable dealers and those interested in influencing the buying tastes of the public. The young collector should learn to think for himself, and put aside the dicta of those more interested in salerooms and their traditions than in art and its qualities. If he will follow his own instincts, armed, of course, with
