"He would frequently," says Ireland, "paint six or seven days on a hand, and, still more wonderful, twice the time on the handle of a broom....

The minuteness of his performance so affected his sight that he wore spectacles at the age of thirty." Gerard Dou's success was not only artistic; it was also financial.

Rembrandt's prices did not compare with those of his pupil, whose art coming more within the sympathetic range and understanding of the ordinary man naturally was more sought after than the Titanic and less comfortable canvasses of the greater craftsman.
Dou did exceedingly well, one of his patrons even paying him a yearly honorarium of a thousand florins for the privilege of having the refusal of each new picture.

"The Poulterer's Shop" at our National Gallery is a perfect example of his fastidious minuteness and charm.

But he painted pictures also with a tenderer brush.