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30 ANNUAL REGISTER
and drapery long since out of fa-shion. When he was advised to consult antiquity to attain a bet-ter taste in drawing, as his was usually heavy and uneven, he took his counsellor to the closet where these old vestments were deposited, saying, by way of derision, those were his antiques.
Rembrandt, like most men of genius, had many caprices. Being one day at work, painting a whole family in a single picture, word being brought him that his mon-key was dead, he was so affected at the loss of this animal, that without paying any attention to the persons who were sitting for their pictures, he painted the monkey upon the same canvass. This whim could not sail displeasing those the piece was designed for; but he would not efface it, chusing rather to lose the sale of his pic-ture.
This freak will appear still more extraordinary in Rembrandt, when it is considered, that he was ex-tremely avaricious, which vice daily grew upon him. He practised various stratagems to sell his prints at a high price. The public were very desirous of purchasing them, and not without reason. In his prints the same taste prevails as in his pictures, they are rough and irregular, but picturesque. In or-der to heighten the value of his prints, and increase their price, he made his son sell them, as if he had purloined them from his father; others he exposed at public sales, and went thither himself in dis-guise to bid for them; sometimes he gave out that he was going to leave Holland, and settle in ano-ther country. These stratagems were successful, and he got his own price for his prints. At other times he would print his plates half finished, and expose them to sale; he afterwards finished them, and they became fresh plates. When they wanted retouching, he made some alterations in them, which promoted the sale of his prints a third time, though they differed but little from the first impressions.
His pupils, who were not igno-rant of his avarice, one day painted some pieces of money upon cards, and Rembrandt no sooner saw them, but he was going to take them up. He was not angry at the pleasantry, but his avarice still pre-vailed.
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Anecdotes of Antonio Verrio.
Charles II. having a mind to revive the manufactory of tapestry at Mortlack, which had been interrupted by the civil war, sent for Verrio, a Neapolitan, to England: but, changing, his pur-pose, consigned over Windsor to his pencil. The king was induced to this, by seeing some of his paint-ings at Lord Arlington's, at the end of St. James's-park, where at pre-sent stands Buckingham-house. The first picture Verrio drew for the king, was his majesty in naval triumph, now in the public din-ing-room in the castle. He exe-cured most of the cielings there, one whole side of St. George's-hall, and the chapel. On the cieling of the former, he has pic-tured Anthony Earl of Shafters-bury, in the character of Faction, dispersing libels; as in another place, he revenged a private quar-rel with the house-keeper, Mrs. Marriot, by borrowing her ugly face
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For the YEAR 1772. 31
face for one of the furies. With still greater impropriety, he has introduced himself, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Bap. May, surveyor of the works, in long periwigs, as spectators of Christ healing the sick. He is recorded as operator of all these gaudy works, in a large inseription over the tribune at the end of the hall.
The king paid him generously. Vertue met with a memorandum of monies he had received for his per-formances at Windsor: As the com-parison of prices in different ages, may be one of the most useful parts of this work, and as it is remem-bered what Annibal Caracci re-ceived for his glorious labour in the Farnese palace at Rome, it will not perhaps be thought tedious, if I set down this account.
An account of monies paid for painting done in Windsor-Castle for his majesty, by Signior Ver-rio, since July, 1676.
l. s. d.
King's guard-chamber 300 0 0
King's presence-chamber 200 0 0
Privie-chamber 200 0 0
Queen's drawing-room 250 0 0
Queen's bed-chamber 100 0 0
King's great bed-chamber 120 0 0
King's little bed-chamber 50 0 0
King's drawing-room 250 0 0
King's closet 50 0 0
King's eating-room 250 0 0
Queen's long gallery 250 0 0
Queen's chapel 110 0 0
King's privie back-stairs 100 0 0
The king's gratuity 200 0 0
The king's carved stairs 150 0 0
Queen's privie-chamber 200 0 0
King's guard-chamber stairs 200 0 0
Queen's presence-chamber 200 0 0
Queen's great stairs 200 0 0
Queen's guard-chamber 200 0 0
Privie-gallery 200 0 0
Court-yard 200 0 0
Pension at Midsummer, 1680 100 0 0
A gratitude of 200 guineas 215 8 4
Pension at Christmas, 1680 100 0 0
Pension at Midsummer, 1681 100 0 0
The king's chapel 900 0 0
Over-work in the chapel 150 0 0
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5545 8 4
On the back of this paper.
His majesty's gift a gold chain 200 0 0
More by the Duke of Albemarle for
a cieling 60 0 0
More my Lord of Essex 40 0 0
More from Mr. Monta-gue of London 800 0 0
More of Mr. Montague of Woodcutt 1300 0 0
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In all 6845 8 4
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The king's bounty did not stop here; Verrio had a place of master-gardener, and a lodging at the end of the park, now Carleton-house. He was expensive, and kept a great table, and often pressed the king for money, with a freedom which his majesty's own frankness indulg-ed. Once at Hampton-Court, when he had but lately received an advance of a thousand pounds, he found the king in such a circle, that, he could not approach. He called out, Sire, I desire the favour of speaking to your majesty. Well, Verrio, said the king, what is your request? Money, Sir; I am so short in cash, that I am not able to pay my workmen; and your majesty and
