Roger de Piles's L'Abrégé de la vie des peintres...avec un traité du peintre parfait (The Art of Painting and the Lives of the Painters) was a major art biography of painters. It was written by the French spy Roger de Piles. In 1692, during the War of the League of Augsburg, he was arrested in the Hague carrying a false passport and imprisoned for the next five years, where he wrote his L'Abrégé in 7 parts; 1) Sketch of the perfect painter, 2) Greek painters; 3) Painters from Rome & Florence; 4) Painters from Venice; 5) Painters from Lombardy; 6) Painters from Germany and the Low Countries; 7) Painters from France and ending with his famous "Balance of painters". The book was finally published in 1699 following his appointment as Conseiller Honoraire to the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris.
Part 6 includes in order of appearance in the text, the following list of Artists from Germany and the Low Countries: Hubert van Eyck (1366–1426), p 334 Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), p 336 Georg Pencz (1500–1550), p 342 Peter Candid (1548–1628), p 343 Cornelis Engebrechtsz. (1468–1533), p 343 Bernard van Orley (1490–1541), p 344 Michiel Coxie (1499–1592), p 345 Lucas van Leyden (1494–1533), p 345 Quentin Matsys (1466–1530), p 347 Jan van Calcar (1499–1546), p 349 Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502–1550), p 350 Heinrich Aldegrever (1502–1555), p 351 Jan Mabuse (1478–1532), p 352 Jan van Scorel (1495–1562), p 354 Lambert Lombard (1505–1566), p 355 Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543), p 356 Tobias Stimmer (1539–1584), p 360 Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen (1500–1559), p 360 Antonis Mor (1520–1576), p 361 Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526–1569), p 362 Frans Floris (1519–1570), p 363 Christoph Schwarz (1545–1592), p 364 Willem Key (1515–1568), p 365 Hubert Goltzius (1534–1609), p 365 Pieter Pourbus (1523–1584), p 366 Dirck Barendsz (1534–1592), p 366 Hans Bol (1534–1593), p 367 Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574), p 367 Karel van Mander (1548–1606), p 369 Marten de Vos (1532–1603), p 370 Stradanus (1523–1605), p 371 Bartholomeus Spranger (1546–1611), p 372 Hendrik Goltzius (1558–1617), p 374 Hans von Aachen (1552–1614), p 376 Joseph Heintz the Elder (1564–1609), p 377 Paul Bril (1554–1626), p 377 Cornelis van Haarlem (1562–1637), p 378 Adam van Noort (1561–1641), p 378 Otto van Veen (1556–1629), p 379 Hans Rottenhammer (1564–1625), p 381 Pieter Cornelisz van Rijck (1567–1637), p 382 Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), p 382 Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610), p 396 Abraham Bloemaert (1564–1651), p 397 Hendrik van Steenwijk I (1550–1603), p 398 Abraham Janssens (1570–1632), p 399 Gerard Seghers (1591–1651), p 400 Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt (1567–1641), p 401 Cornelis Schut (1597–1655), p 401 Gerard van Honthorst (1592–1656), p 402 Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), p 403 Adriaen Brouwer (1605–1638), p 408 Cornelius van Poelenburgh (1595–1667), p 409 Roelant Savery (1576–1639), p 410 Johannes van der Beeck (1589–1644), p 410 Friedrich Brentel (1580–1651), p 411 Johann Wilhelm Baur (1607–1639), p 411 Hendrick Goudt (1583–1648), p 412 David Teniers the Elder (1582–1649), p 413 Jan van den Hoecke (1611–1651), p 414 Jacques Fouquier (1590–1659), p 414 Pieter van Laer (1592–1642), p 415 Andries Both (1612–1642), p 416 Daniel Seghers (1590–1661), p 417 Balthazar Gerbier (1591–1663), p 418 Herman van Swanevelt (1604–1655), p 418 George Geldorp (1590–1665), p 419 Isaac Oliver (1565–1617), p 419 Peter Lely (1618–1680), p 419 Cornelis de Heem (1631–1695), p 420 Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596–1675), p 420 David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690), p 420 Rembrandt (1606–1669), p 421 Gerrit Dou (1613–1675), p 428 Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635–1681), p 430 Adriaen Hanneman (1603–1671), p 431 (Note: in the Dutch translation of 1725, the title of this entry was mistakenly translated as "Lange Jan", referring to Jan Gerritsz van Bronckhorst (1603–1661) instead of Hanneman) Jacob Jordaens (1593–1678), p 432 Erasmus Quellinus II (1607–1678), p 433 Joachim von Sandrart (1606–1688), p 434 Hendrik Verschuring (1627–1690), p 437 Caspar Netscher (1639–1684), p 441
External links Online version (English) of 1706 The Art of Painting, and the Lives of Painters: Containing, a Compleat Treatise of Painting, Designing, and the Use of Prints by Roger de Piles, published by J. Nutt, on Google Books Online version (French) of 1715 Abregé de la Vie des peintres by Roger de Piles on Google Books Version (Dutch) of 1725 translated by Johannes Verhoek "Beknopt verhaal van het Leven der Vermaardste Schilders" by Roger de Piles on archive.org