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In his day, a well-known painter, etcher, and art theorist. A contributor to the ‘gallicizing’ of Dutch art in the second half of the 17th century, he was a talented painter who served a wealthy, cultivated bourgeoisie for whom he painted complex allegories. He was known as an accompished painter and also as a draughtsman and engraver, and an influential theorist among the late 17th-century promoters of classicism. He suffered from congenital syphilis, which caused him to go blind about 1690; he subsequently focused his energies on art theory. Comment on works: History.