Jan van Hoogstraten

[1] In his biographical sketch of him, Houbraken included a story about his work methods in Vienna, whereby just after he arrived there he had won a commission to paint the Denial of Peter, a popular subject at that time.

[1] Not speaking German, he managed to convince a suitable beggar to follow him back to his studio, and the good man thought he would receive alms at the door, but when he was beckoned upstairs and saw the skull and other vanitas attributes set out on a table, he panicked and ran outside, where Samuel van Hoogstraten, just returning and thinking he was a thief, managed to catch him.

[1] The townspeople had a good laugh when all was settled, and the poor man was finally convinced to sit in a role as St. Peter, but the whole while he was so frightened and nervous that the painting was well executed indeed.

[2] He was buried in the St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, where a sculpting friend of Samuel's made a small marble sculpture of a child at his grave, as a monument to his memory.

[3] Samuel's brother François van Hoogstraten later wrote a poem in memory of Jan,[1] and later named his son after him, who also became a poet.