CRAYER, CASPAR DE, a painter, was born at Antwerp in 1585, and was a disciple of Raphael Coxis, the son of the same Coxis who had studied under Raffaele; but he soon showed such proof of genius, and of an elevated capacity, that he far surpassed his master. Of all his contemporaries, he was accounted to approach nearest to Vandyck, not only in history, but in portrait. He principally painted religious subjects, and was continually at work. Although he lived to a great age, yet his temperance and constant regularity preserved to him the full use of all his faculties; and to the last month of his life his pencil retained the same force and freedom which it possessed in his youth.
CRAYON is a sort of soft pencil made of any kind of coloured substance used for drawing in what is called pastel. It is a name which may also with propriety be applied to primitive substances or chalks.