Acknowledgements
This study has been long in the making. It has a kernel of inception in my dissertation on Rembrandt and the Venetian tradition. I am grateful to Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, who suggested that topic, and to David Rosand, who supervised it; I thank them gratefully and posthumously for their sustained support and scholarly insight. Many colleagues have been helpful to this study at various stages. For collegiality and for generosity in sharing expertise, my warm thanks go to Ton Broos, Christopher Brown, Perry Chapman, Peter van der Coelen, Paul Crenshaw, Elizabeth Cropper, Stephanie S. Dickey, Jeroen Giltaij, Erik Hinterding, Michael Kwakkelsteijn, Friso Lammertse, Peter M. Lukehart, Bert W. Meijer, Frances Preston, Martin Royalton-Kisch, Giancarla Periti, Louisa Wood Ruby, Jaco Rutgers, Gary Schwartz, Christian Tico Seifert, Eric Jan Sluijter, Nicolette Sluijter-Seiffert, Philip Sohm, Anne Charlotte Steland, Dominique Surh, Amy Walsh, Ernst van de Wetering, Michael Zell and Zirka Z. Filipczak.
Much of my research was carried out in libraries and print rooms. I am grateful to those who were so helpful at the Amsterdam University Library Bijzondere Collecties, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The British Museum, Houghton Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, National Gallery of Art, Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut Florence, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Morgan Library & Museum, Rijksmuseum, and the Pennsylvania State University Special Collections.
In various forms, some portions of this study have been presented at conferences and university seminars, where I benefitted from perceptive comments of many. I thank Nirit Ben-aryeh, Jan Blanc, Jeroen Dewulf, Arthur J. Di Furia, Luba Freedman, Maria Clelia Galassi, Dario Gamboni, Ann Sutherland Harris, Patrick Hunt, Bernd W. Lindemann, Mia Mochizuki, Lisa Saltzman and Eva Struhal who warmly invited me to participate in these events.
Travel and research were generously supported by a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Over the years, Lycoming College has provided substantial funding; my deep thanks go to the Provost and Dean of the College, Philip Sprunger, for his enthusiastic support.
Some of this material has appeared in other forms in publications edited by Anton Boschloo, Jacquelyn Coutré, Stephanie Dickey, Bernd Lindemann, Anna De Floriani and Maria Clelia Galassi, Margaret Hanni, Alison Kettering, Nadine Orenstein and Nicolette Sluijter-Seiffert. In manifold ways, their editorial care contributed to improving my text.
Translations are my own, unless otherwise credited. Jeremiah Johnson, Alicia Skeath and Seth Goodman of Lycoming College assisted helpfully with images. Walter Melion, Ivo Romein, Wilma de Weert and Arjan van Dijk of Brill brought this project to fruition. My heartfelt thanks go to all.