The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Beck, David

BECK, or Beek, David, a Dutch portrait painter, one of the ablest pupils of Vandyke, born in 1621, died at the Hague in 1656. He painted with so much rapidity, that Charles I. of England exclaimed, “Faith, Beck, I believe you could paint riding post.” Queen Christina of Sweden employed him in painting the portraits of European sovereigns, and chiefly her own portrait. He travelled extensively, and while sick in Germany he was thought dead and prepared for the grave, but revived and was gradually restored to life. His subsequent death was ascribed to poison.