Frans van Mieris the Elder

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Self-portrait 1667
The soldier and the girl (brothel scene), 1658, Mauritshuis

Frans van Mieris the Elder (born April 16, 1635 in Leiden , † March 12, 1681 in Leiden , buried in the St. Pieterskerk ) was a Dutch portrait , history and genre painter .

education

He was a son of the goldsmith and diamond setter Jan Bastiansz. van Mieris and his wife Christine Willemsdr. van Garbartijn. He began his training in 1647 with his cousin, the goldsmith Willem Fransz. In 1650, however, he changed his professional goal and started an apprenticeship with the glass painter Abraham Toorenvliet . A short time later he became a student of Gerard Dou , probably the best-known representative of Leiden fine painting, who later referred to and highlighted him as the prince of his students . In 1658 Frans van Mieris joined the Leiden Guild of St. Luke . In 1663 and 1664 he acted as their captain and in 1665 as chief.

Frans van Mieris created in the style of fine painting with precise attention to detail, above all, depictions of the social and domestic life of the noble world. The painter's late pictures were smaller in size and show classicist influences.

championship

His mastery is based primarily on the delicacy of the painterly treatment, the elegance of the drawing and the virtuoso rendering of the material. But his portraits and genre figures, some of which belong to the noble world and some of the middle class, are mostly superficial and smooth in their characteristics. His genre paintings are mostly limited to two or three characters. Portraits of Mieris and his wife can be found in the Galerie Den Haag , as well as in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich . The latter collection is particularly rich in masterpieces by Mieris' hand (the oyster breakfast, the lute player, the riding boot, the trumpeter, the sick woman), many of which are also in Paris, Dresden (workshop of the artist, woman and girl with the lute) and Berlin (young lady in front of the mirror).

Frans van Mieris married Cunera van der Cock in 1657. The couple had five children. His sons Jan and Willem and his grandson Frans were also important painters.

  • Jan van Mieris (born June 17, 1660 in Leiden; † March 17, 1690) learned from Lairesse and mostly painted portraits on a larger scale. He visited Germany, then went to Florence and finally to Rome, where he died March 17, 1690.
  • Willem van Mieris (* 1662 in Leiden; † January 27, 1747 in Leiden) painted small society pictures in a similar way, but was inferior to his father.
  • Frans van Mieris (* December 24, 1689 in Leiden; † October 22, 1763 there), the younger son of William Mieris, also painted genre pieces and portraits in imitation of his father and grandfather. More meritorious than his smooth pictures are his history of the nederlandsche vorsten (Haag 1732–35, 3 volumes), the Groot charterboek of the graven van Holland, van Zeeland en herren van vriesland (Leipz. 1753–56, 4 volumes), on which works he had the coins engraved according to his drawings, and the hand vests of the stad Leyden (Leiden 1759, 2 volumes; the first volume and the additions to the same were provided by Daniel van Alphen ).

Selection of works

  • Duet - 1658, Schwerin, State Museum
  • The artist painting a lady - Dresden, Gemäldegalerie, missing since 1945
  • Lady in front of the mirror - Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • The oyster breakfast - Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • The sleeping officer in the inn - Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • Der Reiterstiefel - Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • A trumpeter - Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • Self-portrait at the age of 32 - 1667, Polesden Lacey (National Trust).
  • A Cavalier (Self-Portrait) 1657–1659, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney - On June 14, 2007, the museum management confirmed that the painting had been stolen from the wall on one of the previous days while the museum was still open. ABC news
  • Lady at the harpsichord , 1658, oil on panel, height: 31.6 cm, Schwerin State Museum

gallery

  • Duet 1658

  • Young woman feeding a parrot, 1663

  • Lace maker

  • Musical society

  • Clothes shop

  • Woman at the morning toilet

  • Oyster meal

  • Letter writer

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mieris, Frans van der Elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mieris, Frans van
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch portrait, history and genre painter
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1635
PLACE OF BIRTH Suffer
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1681
Place of death Suffer