(Gerbrant Vander), history and portrait painter, was born at Amsterdam in 1621, and was a disciple of Rembrandt; whose manner of designing, colouring, and penciling, he imitated so nearly, that it is difficult to distinguish between several of his paintings and those of his master. He painted after nature, and with such a force as only nature can equal: his touch and his colouring are the same as Rembrandt's; but he rather excelled him in the extremities of his figures. His principal employment was for portraits; and in those he was admirable: but he surpassed all his contemporaries, in the power he had of painting the mind in the countenance. But although Eeckhout painted portraits to so great a degree of perfection, yet was he much more pleased to paint historical subjects, and he executed them with equal success. In that style his composition is rich and full of judgment; the distribution of his masses of light and shadow is truly excellent; and in the opinion of many connoisseurs, he had more transparency in his colouring, and better expression, than his master. He died in 1674.