Brief Biography-Gerard (Gerhard, Gerrit) Dou from Leyden acquired his initial skills from Bartholomew Dolendo, an engraver who taught him drawing and Peter Kouwhoorn, who painted glass and assisted his father, who was a glazier. At fifteen, Rembrandtadmitted him into his atelier from 1628 to 1631. He collaborated with Rembrandt and other artists, such as Nicolaes Berchem, who did the landscape in his painting, the Portrait Group, now in the Rijksmuseum. His attention to fine detail was so unique that it deterred sitters due to Dou’s time to paint a single hand. However, this commitment to precision and chiaroscuro achieved considerable success, moving from portraits to interior scenes. Arnold Houbraken states that his patron Mr Spiering granted him one thousand guilders a year for the first choice of his works plus additional unit fees. Joachim von Sandrart, on the other hand, assures us the benefactor could receive all paintings yearned for that fee. He co-founded the Leyden Guild of Saint Luke with Jan Steen, and founded the Fijnschilders (Fine Painters), who inclined toward classicism. His most notable students were Gabriel Metsu, Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt, Frans van Mieris and Godfried Schalcken.