Kindergarten stage, but went no farther.

Flower painting attained great excellence in the seventeenth century. The
most elaborate masters in this art were the brothers De Heem, Willem
Kalf, Abraham Mignon, and Jan van Huysum. Exquisite as the pictures by
these masters are, Maria van Oosterwyck and Rachel Ruysch disputed
honors with them, and many other women excelled in this delightful art.

An interesting feature in art at this time was the intimate association
of men and women artists and the distinction of women thus associated.

Gerard Terburg, whose pictures now have an enormous value, had two
sisters, Maria and Gezina, whose genre pictures were not unworthy of
comparison with the works of their famous brother. Gottfried Schalken,
remarkable for his skill in the representation of scenes by candle light,
was scarcely more famous than his sister Maria. Eglon van der Neer is
famous for his pictures of elegant women in marvellous satin gowns. He
married Adriana Spilberg, a favorite portrait painter. The daughters of
the eminent engraver Cornelius Visscher, Anna and Maria, were celebrated
for their fine etching on glass, and by reason of their poems and their
scholarly acquirements they were called the "Dutch Muses," and were
associated with the learned men of their day. This list, though
incomplete, suggests that the co-education of artists bore good fruit in
their co-operation in their profession.

* * * * *

In England, while there was a growing interest in painting, the standard
was that of foreign schools, especially the Dutch. Foreign artists found
a welcome and generous patronage at the English Court. Mary Beale and