The advantage of a good name. A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr Simon Du Bois an eminent painter, in the church of St Paul’s Covent-Garden, May the 26th 1708.

4to: [4]-16 pp. (old ink splash to the margin of two lvs, min. foxing).

Mod. marbled wrappers. Good copy.

Extremely rare funeral sermon addressed to a painter. Simon Du Bois or Dubois (1632, Antwerp-1706, London), was a Flemish/Dutch portrait painter, active in England from 1685 until his death. From 1646 to 1653 Dubois lived in Haarlem, where he was a pupil of Van Berchem and Wouwermans, and took to painting horses and cattle pictures. He was noted by Horace Walpole, who stated that when his elder brother, Edward, died in 1699, "Simon, left without society, began to work for Vande velde, and one day in a fit of generosity, offered to draw the portrait of his eldest daughter. This drew on a nearer acquaintance, and the old man married her, but died in a year, leaving her his money, and a fine collection of pictures, and naming his patron, Lord Somers, executor; he was buried May 26, 1708. His young widow married again, and dissipated the fortune and collection". The sermon is dedicated to Lord Somers. Peter Wagener was rector of Stisted in Essex. Black "mourning" border to the title-page, and to the headers on each page.
Ref. ESTC T75470 (2: BL, Lambeth Palace).
Prov. Old inscription at top of title.