xxi EGLON HENDRIK VAN DER NEER 503 right behind the boy is the head of a girl ; with a smile on her face, she points with her right hand to the cat. [Cf. in, 115.] Signed in full ; panel, 8 inches by 6 inches. Engraved by Dupuis. Sale. Comte de Vence, Paris, February u, 1761 (171 francs); see Ch. Blanc, i. 101. In the Karlsruhe Gallery, 1894 catalogue, No. 280. 113. THE YOUNG DRUMMER. Sm. 19. Half-length. A handsome youth, elegantly dressed in a sky-blue silk doublet with a purple sash, in which he has thrust a sword, and a yellowish-red velvet cap with a plume, lays his left hand on a drum. He seems to be marching at the head of a troop of children carrying banners and lances. " Painted with singular delicacy and sweetness " (Sm.). Panel, 7^ inches by 5 inches. Sale. J. Gildemeester, Amsterdam, June II, 1800, No. 157 (70 florins, Labouchere). In the collection of the Marquess of Stafford, London. In the collection of Lord Francis Egerton, Bridgewater House, London, 1833 (Sm., who valued it at 105). In the collection of the Earl of Ellesmere, Bridgewater House, London, 1892 catalogue, No. 221 ; it was there in 1854 (Waagen, ii. 44). 114. TWO BOYS WITH A SNARED BIRD. A good- looking boy kneels on the ground, with his body turned to the right, and leans his elbows on a low bank. He wears a broad-brimmed hat, a white shirt, and a blue jacket. In his left hand he holds a little bird at which he looks down ; he fingers its beak with his right hand. Beside him to the right, another boy lays his hand round the first boy's neck and looks at the bird with a smile. He has brown hair. In front lies a red velvet cap with blue, yellow, and white plumes. To the right, beside the bank, is a tall tree which forks above the boys' heads. A wooden bird-cage, open in front, hangs from the tree. A bird is in the cage ; another perches on the top of it ; a third flies away. To the right, beyond the tree, is a wooden hut. From the left centre a wooded valley leads into the distance. In the left foreground are poppies and thistles ; to the right are other plants. Blue sky. Signed in full on the cage ; panel, 9 inches by 7^ inches. In a Spanish collection in the time of Philip V. In the collection of the Duke of Wellington, Apsley House, London, 1901 catalogue, No. 40 ; acquired in 1813. 115. CHILDREN WITH A CAT AND A BIRD. Half- length. A child with long fair curls, wearing a blue doublet, a red cloak, and a red cap, is at a window-opening, hung with a green curtain which is caught up half-way on the left. He turns his head to the right, and smiles as he teases a cat sitting in front of the window by pointing to a bird in a cage to the left. On the window-sill, close to the cage, is an earthenware cup with a chipped rim. Behind the boy, a little girl points with her finger at the cat. In the style of the pictures at Brunswick and Karlsruhe (in, 112).
