doloresdepalabra:

Gerrit Dou - Prince Rupert of the Palatinate and his Tutor [c.1631]

Gerard Dou, also known as Gerrit and Douw or Dow (April 7, 1613 – February 9, 1675), was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly-polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his trompe l’oeil “niche” paintings and candlelit night-scenes with strong chiaroscuro.

At a comparatively early point in his career he had formed a manner of his own distinct from. Gifted with unusual clearness of vision and precision of manipulation, he cultivated a minute and elaborate style of treatment; and probably few painters ever spent more time and pains on all the details of their pictures down to the most trivial. He is said to have spent five days in painting a hand; and his work was so fine that he found it necessary to manufacture his own brushes. Dou died in Leiden.

[Oil on canvas, 40½ x 34¾ inches]