A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters; in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures; a statement of the prices at which such pictures have been sold at public sales on the continent and in England; a reference to the galleries and private collections, in which a large portion are at present; and the names of the artists by whom they have been engraved; to which is added, a brief notice of the scholars & imitators of the great masters of the above schools:
John Smith's nine-volume reference catalogue of Dutch, Flemish and French paintings, published in London in 1829 for collectors, dealers and auction buyers, pairing short artist biographies with picture descriptions, sale prices and locations. The plates are soft-toned photomechanical reproductions of the paintings themselves: harbour and canal views with moored shipping and quayside figures, a half-length portrait of a girl, and a dark multi-figure religious composition, useful as monochrome painting facsimiles with deep tonal gradation.
