GASPAR, an eminent painter, was born, according to one account, at Heidelberg in 1639, but according to another, at Prague, in 1636. His father died when he was two years of age; and his widowed mother, fleeing from the dangers of a civil war, carried him to Arnhem. There the young orphan was adopted and educated by a benevolent physician named Tullekens. At first he was destined for the profession of his patron; but his great aptitude for painting soon caused the plan of his future career to be altered, and he was placed under an artist named De Koster. After a short time spent in painting birds and objects of still life, the pupil had exhausted all his master's instructions, and set out for Italy to complete his education there. Happening, however, to get married at Liege, and being compelled to practise his art for the support of his household, he could proceed no farther. He settled at Bordeaux, and toiled hard to earn a livelihood by painting fancy subjects. But those small cabinet pictures, which are now so highly valued on account of their exquisite finish, brought but a small remuneration; and after removing to the Hague, he turned his attention to portrait-painting. In this branch of his art he was more successful. His earnings soon became so considerable, that he was enabled at times to gratify his own taste and fancy by depicting musical and conversational pieces. It was in these that Netscher's genius was first fully displayed. The choice of the subjects, and the habit of introducing female figures, dressed in rich, glossy satins, were imitated from Terburg; but the easy yet delicate pencilling, the brilliant yet correct colouring, and the complete mastery over light and shade were all his own. He soon attracted notice, and was rapidly gaining both fame and wealth, when he was cut off at the premature age of forty-one. Many of Netscher's pictures may be found in the galleries of the Louvre, Hesse-Cassel, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and Florence; at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, and in the English collections of Sir Robert Peel, Mr Hope, Lord Ashburton, and the Earl of Bridgewater. The style of Netscher was imitated by his two sons Theodore and Constantine; but these, though meritorious painters, were far inferior to their father.