ster, is disposed of by the fact that the king died in 489, nearly a century before Declan was born. Towards the close of his life he visited the original seat of his clan in Meath, where he founded a monastery and left a remarkable copy of the gospels, which was held in great honour and believed to possess miraculous powers. Here he probably placed his disciple St. Ultan of Ardbraccan (d. 657). Among the buildings at Ardmore that known as the Dormitory of St. Declan is believed by Dr. Petrie to be his primitive oratory. The year of his death is uncertain, but he seems to have lived far on into the seventh century. His day is 24 July.
[MS. E. 3, 11, Trin. Coll. Dublin; Bollandist's Act. Sanct. tom. v. Julii, p. 590; Todd's St. Patrick, 205–14, 219; Irish Nennius, p. 31; Bingham, book viii. ch. vi. sec. xx. note; Petrie's Round Towers, p. 353; Ussher's Works, vi. 332, 343, 344, 355; Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. i. 25; Ducange, art. ‘Cymbalum;’ Book of Munster, MS. 23, E. 26, Royal Irish Academy; Journal of the Kilkenny Archæological Society, iii. 48.]
DE COETLOGON, CHARLES EDWARD (1746?–1820), divine. [See Coetlogon.]
DE CORT, HENRY FRANCIS (Hendrik Frans) (1742–1810), landscape painter, was born at Antwerp in 1742, and first studied painting under W. Herreyns. On 16 May 1769 he entered the studio of the landscape-painter Hendrik Joseph Antonissen, and on 16 May 1770 he was admitted a master in the guild of St. Luke at Antwerp. His chief paintings were views of towns and landscapes with architectural surroundings; in some of these he was assisted by his fellow-pupil, Ommeganek, who painted the figures for him. Leaving Antwerp he proceeded to Paris, and entered the academy there, of which he was elected a fellow in 1781. Here he painted some views of Chantilly, and was appointed painter to the Prince de Condé. In 1788 he returned to Antwerp, and took an active part in reorganising the school of painting there, acting as secretary to the newly constituted academy. He contributed six pictures to the first exhibition of the new academy held in 1789. Shortly after this he came over to England, bringing some of his pictures, and in 1790 exhibited seven pictures at the Royal Academy. He continued to contribute to the same exhibition numerous landscapes taken in various parts of England, especially the west, during the ensuing twelve years. In 1806 he contributed three landscapes to the first exhibition of the British Institution. He died in London 28 June 1810, and was buried in Old St. Pancras Cemetery. Though he does not seem to have taken very high rank as an artist, his landscapes were much valued in private collections, being agreeably coloured and treated in the Italian manner, so very much in vogue at the time. His sepia drawings were also much admired. G. H. Harlow [q. v.] was one of his pupils.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Van den Branden's Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche Schilderschool; Siret's Dictionnaire des Peintres; Bellier de la Chavignerie's Dictionnaire des Artistes de l'Ecole Française; Catalogues of the Royal Academy, &c.; information from M. Emile Lefèvre.]
DE CRITZ, JOHN (d. 1641–2), sergeant-painter, was a Fleming by birth, and as a young man was patronised by Sir Francis Walsingham. In 1582 he was in Paris, and in communication with Walsingham, to whom, as he writes on 14 Oct., he sent various paintings as presents, including one of St. John and one of the story of Neptune and Cænis (Ovid Met. xii. 497). He was then purposing to spend the winter in France, and subsequently, with Walsingham's leave, to repair to Italy. He attained some note as a painter, since in the ‘Palladis Tamia,’ or ‘Wit's Treasury,’ by Francis Meres, published in 1598, he is extolled, in company with Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, as very famous for his painting. In September 1603 he obtained the reversion of the office of sergeant-painter, then held by Leonard Fryer, at a salary of 10l. per annum, drawn from the petty customs of the port of London. On 23 March 1604 he was granted denization, and on 7 April of the same year he received a warrant to do all needful works about the king's ships. In 1605 he was employed by the king to paint the tomb erected by Maximilian Powtran, alias Colt [q. v.], to the memory of Queen Elizabeth, for which he was paid 100l.; and on 26 April was granted the office of sergeant-painter, of which he held the reversion, holding it jointly with Leonard Fryer. On 14 Feb. 1610 he was paid 330l. for works executed by him at Westminster. In 1612 he received payments for works at the funeral of Henry, prince of Wales, including ‘for painting his portrature, cl.’; this probably refers to the effigy carried in the procession (Brit. Mus. Lansd. MSS. 164). In 1620 Henry Holland published his ‘Heroologia Anglica,’ and from manuscript notes in a copy of this work (formerly in the possession of Sir James Winter Lake, bart.) it appears that three of the engraved portraits were done from paintings in the possession of John De Critz in the Strand,
