ABSTRACT
Every specialist in the Northern Baroque period knows that Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678) was the principal teacher of Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719) and that both artists wrote important books about art. They had a lot more in common, however. Both men were born in the city of Dordrecht, came from a Mennonite background, married outside the Community and joined the Dutch Reformed Church instead. 2 Both had the benefit of a great teacher, this being Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) in the case of Van Hoogstraten. Both became authors, each with a significant literary production, including both prose and poetry, beyond his chief work on art. 3 Both were ambitious, energetic, versatile and successful artists who moved up in the world. Though Houbraken did not end up rich like his teacher, 4 his history paintings, genre pieces, portraits, etchings and inventions for the book trade were well-enough received to allow him to maintain a large family in enviable style, first in Dordrecht and then in Amsterdam. 5
