or BERGHEM, NICHOLAS, an eminent painter, born at Haerlem in 1624. He received instruction from several distinguished masters; and it was no small addition to their fame that Berchem was their pupil. The pictures of cattle and figures by this master are highly esteemed; and many of them have been finely engraved by John Visscher, an eminent artist in his own line. The distinguishing characters of Berchem's pictures are, the breadth and just distribution of the lights, the grandeur of his masses of shadow, the nature and simplicity in the attitudes of his figures, the just gradation of distances, brilliancy and transparency of colouring, the correctness and true perspective of his design, and the elegance of his composition. He died in 1683.