Francesco Brizzio (or Briccio) was the most eminent of the three painters we have to name who began life as shoemakers. He was born at Bologna in 1574. Up to the age of twenty he worked as a shoemaker, and then, being free to follow his bent, became at first a pupil of Passerotti, who taught him design, afterward of Agostini, who initiated him in the engraver's art, and finally of Lodovico Caracci, under whom he became so proficient that "by some he has been pronounced the most eminent disciple of Caracci;" and it has been affirmed of this son of Crispin that of all Caracci's pupils except Domenichino he was gifted with the most universal genius. In perspective, landscape, architecture, and figures, a competent critic, Andrea Sacchi, the famous Roman artist, says, "Brizzio surpassed all his rivals." Guido speaks highly of the beauty of his cherubs. His extant paintings are an altar-piece entitled "The Coronation of the Virgin," which is very rich in coloring, and the "Table of Cebes," a grand painting executed for the Angellili family. Numerous engravings of his are known to connoisseurs, and highly prized as the work of an artist "who often approaches Guido." "His pictures were not only admired for the truth of the perspective and the beauty of his coloring, but also for the grandeur of his ideas, the majestic style of the architecture, the elegance of the ornaments, and the noble taste of the landscapes which he introduced to set off his buildings." Brizzio died in 1623 at the age of forty-nine.[96] [96] Lanzi's "History of Painting." London: Bohn, vol. iii. p. 126; Bryan's "Dictionary of Painters." London: Bohn, p. 114; and Pilkington's "Dictionary of Painters," p. 95 (1770 ed.). HOLLAND. LUDOLPH DE JONG, THE DUTCH PORTRAIT-PAINTER. Ludolph de Jong, was the son of a shoemaker at Oberschic, a village near Rotterdam, and was born in the year 1616. His father intended to bring his son up to his own humble trade, but having been treated with great severity, Ludolph ran away from home and bade good-by to the cobbler's stall, and became soon afterward a pupil of Sacht Coen. After two years spent with this master, he also studied under Palamedes at Delft and Baylaert at Utrecht. Seven years of his life were spent in France, where he gained renown as a portrait-painter, in which branch of art he showed his best hand. From France he returned to Holland and settled at Rotterdam, where his skill and fame gained him much patronage and a handsome fortune. His best work is at Rotterdam in the _Salle des Princes_, and consists of portraits of officers belonging to the Company of Burghers. De Jong the younger, the clever etcher of battle-scenes, who signs himself IMDI (Jan Martss de Jong), is generally thought to be the son of the well-known painter.[97] [97] Sons of shoemakers have often become famous. See the list given below, which might be greatly extended. SONS OF SHOEMAKERS.