Jan van Mieris


Jan van Mieris was a Dutch painter.

Life

Jan van Mieris was a Dutch painter born in Leiden, the eldest son of Frans van Mieris the Elder and Cunera van der Cocq. His siblings were Frans II, Christina and Willem Mieris, who was also a painter.
After a short apprenticeship in his father's atelier, he was meant to be educated in history paintings with Gerard de Lairesse. Still, his father refrained from doing so due to Lairesse's unscrupulous lifestyle. It is also reported that Jan van Mieris suffered from kidney stones which impeded his progress in his studies
In 1684 Jan van Mieris was mentioned as a witness at the wedding of his brother Willem van Mieris; at that stage, he lived at the Blommemark in Leiden. Afterwards, on June 14, 1686, he paid his entry fee for the Leiden Guild of St. Luke in Leiden. Jan van Mieris paid 3 guilders, half of the regular entry price, because he was the son of a master. The work of Jan van Mieris was loved by collectors with great names, amongst them the De la Court family from Leiden.
The archive of the Leiden Remonstrant Church shows that Jan lived with his mother on the Oude Vest for a short period. In the same year, he must have moved to Italy, as on January 14 of 1689, he wrote a letter to his mother from Venice. From this letter, it is concluded that he was healthy. However, he didn't sell any paintings and therefore had plans to continue his travels to Florence. He was invited to the court of Cosimo III de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, by friends of his father, but because of religious grounds, he was sent off  
He then proceeded to Rome, where his abilities were already well known. In that city, Jan found himself in the company of a group of young painters with a bad reputation, probably the so-called Bentvueghels, and his condition worsened, but he continued to work for as long as he could. On March 17, 1690, he died in Rome at 30. An account of Jan's last days has been published by the painter Erasmus Causse, who also describes Jan's funeral outside the city gate of Rome. More than 40 works by Jan van Mieris are known, including one he painted in Rome, dated 1690. However, his oeuvre doesn't entail more than 30 paintings and one drawing

Relations

Frans van Mieris the Elder
Frans van Mieris was the head of the van Mieris family, which determined the face of Leiden's Paintings for decades, and was married to Cunera van der Coq, Jan van Mieris's mother. Jan van Mieris was the oldest son of Frans van Mieris the Elder and learned painting from him early on. Jan van Mieris never fully gained the attention of his father and seemed to be chasing after him for most of his life due to his early passing
Willem van Mieris
Willem van Mieris was Jan van Mieris's brother. He was born three years after Jan and took to painting, in contrast to their sister Christina van Mieris. As a result, Jan and Willem van Mieris were sometimes known as The Van Mieris Brothers.  
Frans van Mieris the Younger
Frans van Mieris the Younger was the son of Willem van Mieris and in turn the nephew of Jan van Mieris. Frans the younger also took to painting and even ended up painting a number of the alleged self-portraits of Jan, Frans the older, and Willem
De la Court Family
In the 17th century, the relationship between patrons and artists had become exceedingly large. Since the head of the van Mieris family had built up a prestigious reputation, his entire family and his direct descendants were guaranteed positions in the city, resulting in a steady flow of commissions from affluent citizens. The De La Court family had an especially tightly knit relationship with the Van Mieris family. This is evidenced by the fact that the majority of Jan van Mieris' work came from three passionate collectors of this family: Petronella Oortmans-De la Court, her much younger cousin Pieter de la Court van der Voort from Leiden, and his son Allard. Petronella's collection was sold in 1707, she possessed three genre paintings, three history paintings, a self-portrait, and a landscape, with prices varying between 265 and 32 guilders.
Johan Augidiuszn
The Leiden burgomaster Johan Augidiuszn. Van der Marck, a collector of many portraits, possessed two drawn self-portraits and one painted one by Jan van Mieris; Van Gool reported the latter. At the end of the 18th c and the beginning of the 19th, even more portraits were for sale, making it difficult to judge how many there were.
Grand Duke of Tuscany
Frans van Mieris the Elder had connections with the Court Medici family. He had previously made a commissioned painting for Cosimo III de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, for the Galleria Vasariana. Therefore, this led Frans van Mieris to be later invited to the Court by his father's friends but he was sent off for religious reasons.
The painting made for the Duke was an inspiration for Jan, as there are many similarities between his self-portrait and the one made by his father. This is evidenced by how the shawl is draped and the position of the easel in the backdrop. Jan van Mieris must have seen the work when he travelled from Venice to Florence, hoping to get commissions from the Grand Duke.

Works

  • Self-portrait : original self portrait that inspired the copy made by Frans van Mieris the younger, it has not been found yet but it was most likely in possession of Frans the Younger.
  • Portret Van Jan van Mieris : Allard De la Court was particularly fascinated by a self-portrait that was of great importance for the Van Mieris family, causing them to not sell it. This led Allard to order a copy, made by Frans van Mieris the younger in 1744. This painting is thought to be an addition to Allard de la Court's collection of oval-shaped portraits by Frans van Mieris the Younger, Willem van Mieris and Frans van Mieris the Elder, which all had the exact dimension of 5 ¼ x 4 ½ 'thumbs'. It is alleged that Allard de la Court aimed to obtain the complete portrayal of the three generations of the Mieris family. The acquisition of this painting by the De Lakenhal museum in Leiden, made it so Jan van Mieris's portraits were more traceable.
  • The Tobacco smoker, 1688, Hamburger Kunsthalle collection
  • Lady and Cavalier : Jan van Mieris wasn't as interested in repeating typical 17th century genre compositions and motifs as his brother Willem was. He was more focused on the classicizing style that came to dominate the market in those days. Although he did make a free copy after his father's "Lady and Cavalier " panel which indicates his interest in this type of genre painting in his early years. In this piece Jan van Mieris has changed the jacket of the man into a simpler one and covered the woman's breasts with white lace while setting the couple in a lavishly furnished interior.
  • A Woman Holding a Dog in a Landscape, panel, 26.7x20.6 cm, New York, The Leiden Collection
  • A Courtesan Counting Money, panel 29x22.9 cm, New York, The Leiden Collection
  • De Schilderkunst or The art of Painting, Mauritshuis
  • Minerva verheft de Wetenschap, 80.2 x 64.2 cm, 1685 This painting depicts a classical subject in a virtuoso manner. The imitation of the glossy flannel and the copper which can be observed in the painting was most likely learned from his father, Frans van Mieris. The interest in classical subjects of the latter stemmed from his teacher, an eminently classicist painter, Gerard de Lairesse, from Amsterdam.

    Drawings

Six more drawings were recently added to Jan van Mieris' oeuvre. In his finished drawings, he tried to follow in the footsteps of his father and his brother. However, as mentioned in 1751 by r Jan van Gool, Jan van Mieris did not have the talent or the inclination for detailed painting. This is seen in Jan's drawings, with a sketchy style that seems unexpected given his Leiden 'Fijnschilder' background, yet relatively recognizable, especially since his compositions have certain recurrent features. The first of the newly attributed drawings is the study for the painting "Minerva elevates the arts". Correspondingly, five of the six newly attributed drawings are centred around mythology or classical history: "Socrates and Xanthippe," "Paris and Oenone," "Belisarius as a blind beggar recognized by a soldier," "Cecrops' daughter discovers the serpent-shaped Erinchthonius" "Pandora handed over to Epimetheus by Mercury" and "The death of Lucretia"

Poetry

Jan van Mieris was also a poet. He translated the play Aminta, written by Torquato Tasso and also wrote several poems himself. Three of these poems concern his father: one is about his fathers painting "The old lover" and in the two other poems Jan mourns his father's death. These poems and the translation of the play, are part of a manuscript kept in the University Library in Leiden, Jan van Mieris was twenty one years old and his brother Willem was eighteen when his father Frans van Mieris the elder died in 1681. It is not self-evident that the poems Jan van Mieris's manuscript were also created by himself. It is possible that he copied them; in any case, he considered them worth writing down.

Literature

  • Aono, J. ‘Confronting the Golden Age : imitation and innovation in Dutch genre painting’, 1680-1750. Amsterdam University Press, p. 70-177
  • Gool, J. van ‘De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen’, 's Gravenhage, 1750-1751, vol. 2, p. 442, 444
  • Houbraken, A., ‘De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen’, Amsterdam, vol. 3, p. 12
  • Hut, M. van der, 'Een manuscript van Jan van Mieris, met daarin gedichten over zijn vader Frans van Mieris I', in: Oud Holland 122, p. 234-241
  • Sluijter, E.J. 'Een zelfportret en de 'schilder en zijn atelier': het aanzien van Jan van Mieris', in: Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 8, p. 287-30
  • Sluijter, E.J. et al.  ‘Leidse fijnschilders : van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge 1630-1760’, 1988, uitgeverij Waanders Zwolle, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal Leiden, p. 149-151
  • Tatenhove, J. van; Rijdt, R.J.A. te 'Enkele tekeningen door Jan van Mieris ', in: Delineavit et Sculpsit 31, p. 43-55
  • Vogelaar, C. 'Oog in oog met Jan van Mieris. 24 jaar geduld Museum Lakenhal beloond', in: Bulletin van de Vereniging Rembrandt 24, no. 3, p. 20-25
  • Margreet van der Hut, Jan van Mieris : His Life and Work, Zaandijk 2021.