Gerard de Lairesse - Abraham Receiving the Three Angels of the Lord, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.
Gerard de Lairesse (Liege, September 11, c.1640 - Amsterdam, June, 1711) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He was a disciplined intellectual, inspired by the notion that only correct theory could produce good art. For him theory meant the strict adherence to rules. The ultimate purpose of the visual arts was the improvement of mankind, and therefore art must, above all, be lofty and edifying. He set forth hierarchies of social status, of subject matter, of beauty itself. The artist, he said, must learn grace by mingling with the social and intellectual élite, must allow his subject matter to teach the highest moral principles, and must strive for ideal beauty. He must follow closely upon nature but overlook its imperfections.
[Musée du Louvre, Paris - Oil on canvas]