Jan van Mieris (1660-1690)

Jan van Mieris was trained by his famous father Frans, and worked in the tradition of the Leiden 'fijnschilders'. Art historian and former owner M.J. Ripps about his Self-Portrait: "The theme of the artist with the tools of his trade to hand has a robust tradition on both sides of the Alps. In the middle sixteenth-century artists such as Catherina Sanders van Hemessen (c. 1500 - 1566) and Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532 - 1625) memorably depicted themselves with brushes, palette, and Mahlstick, as did leading artists of the subsequent generations. Jan van Mieris' self-portrait is in dialogue with that of his father Frans, and engages a tradition that ultimately reaches back to Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400 - 1464) and forward to Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669) - critical reference points with which the elder and younger Mieris would have been well acquainted. And by placing themselves at a ledge, father and son invoked a pictorial tradition with roots in Raphael's iconic portrait of Castiglione. In this little self-portrait, thus, grand traditions are encapsulated in miniature"