Jan van Mieris(Leiden 1660 – 1690 Rome)

How to cite
Bakker, Piet. “Jan van Mieris” (2017). Revised by Piet Bakker (2020). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue,2nd ed. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artists/jan-vanmieris/ (archived June 2020).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

Jan van Mieris was born in Leiden on 17 June 1660 as the “eldest son of the widely famed Frans van Mieris
the Elder (1635–81) and Cunera van der Cock (1629/30–1700).[1] Like his younger brother Willem van Mieris(1662–1747), Jan initially received instruction from his father. However, given “that his natural artistic drive
tended most toward the painting of life-size objects,” his father wanted to apprentice him to Gerard deLairesse (1641–1711). Frans ultimately abandoned that plan, “because [Lairesse’s] conduct bore noresemblance whatsoever to his exemplary artistic ability,” and decided to train his son himself.[2]Van Mieris’s name first appears in an official document in 1684. He witnessed the posting of the banns of hisbrother Willem and Agneta Chapman (1663–1744), at which time he stated that he was living on theBloemmarkt. Two years later, he joined Leiden’s Guild of Saint Luke. The buyers of his work came from thesame families that patronized the other members of his artistic family, including the De la Courts.[3] In 1707, forinstance, the sale of the collection of Petronella de la Court (1624–1707) included eight works by Van Mieris,among them “A little lady counting money, with a jolly old woman,” which is currently in The
Leiden Collection.[4] A Portrait of Mr. Pieter de la Court by Jan van Mieris, not among those works in the sale,
had previously been mentioned in her inventory.[5] This could be a portrait of Petronella’s cousin, Pieter de laCourt the Younger (1618–85), or his son, Pieter de la Court van de Voort (1664–1739). The latter, the mostimportant patron of Willem van Mieris, owned five works by Jan.[6] In his inventory, Pieter noted next to “ayoung woman feeding a little sparrow [titmouse?]” and a “student with a trick-track table” that Van Mieris had“painted [them] here for me.”[7]Pieter’s annotation implies that Van Mieris painted these two works before 1688, for in that year he left Leiden
and traveled to Italy via Germany. In a letter to his mother from Venice on 14 January 1689,[8] Van Mieris© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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wrote that he had already painted some works for “the most eminent citizens of Venice, yet wished that they
were as cordial and generous as they are polite.”[9] The letter shows that he was lonely and missed his daily
visits to his brother-in-law, “swager van der Eijck” in Leiden. This “swager” has to be Mathijs van der Eijck,
who was married to Van Mieris’s sister Christina (1657–85), and who made a living as an innkeeper at theVoorste Doelen.[10] Van Mieris’s mother was charged with conveying her son’s greetings to Van der Eijck, aswell as to “Mr. Heemskerck.”[11] Van Mieris also relayed to his mother that he had yet to sell the paintings hehad taken along with him from Leiden. He thus conceived a plan to travel to Florence to investigate “whetherbetter opportunities could be found there,” but noted, “it appears that we are among the unlucky ones. It isrumored that the Duke of Tuscany wants to hand over power to his son and has become so devout that he ishardly involved in worldly matters anymore.”[12] Van Mieris was introduced to the grand duke’s court throughfriends of his father and, as noted by the biographer Johan van Gool (1685–1763), would have done well “hadhe been able to reconcile his conscience with the religion of the court; but being firmly and irrefutably wedded
to the precepts of his faith and unwilling to embrace any other religion than that into which he had been bornand raised, he elected to follow the pure Truth.”[13] When the grand duke realized that Van Mieris would not
adopt his convictions, he withdrew his offer to take him into service, whereupon Van Mieris left for Rome. His
stay in the Eternal City was short lived, however: he died, unwed and childless, on 17 March 1690, just a few
months before his thirtieth birthday. Shortly before his death in Rome, he had met the Leiden cloth
manufacturer Jan Poelaert (1653–1701), brother-in-law of Pieter de la Court van der Voort, to whom he sold a“Samaritan woman at the well.” According to Allard de la Court (1688–1755), a later owner of the painting, it
was “the last picture that Van Mieris painted.”[14]- Piet Bakker, 2017; revised in 2020

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Page 3 of 7Endnotes

1. “Outste Zoon van de alomberoemden Frans van Mieris.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe
Schouburg der Nederlantsche Kunstschilders en Schilderessen: Waer in de Levens- en
kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene Schilders, die van Houbraken, nocheenig ander Schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worden (The Hague, 1751), 2: 442.
2. “Zyn natuurlyke kunstdrift zich meest uitgestrekt [zou] hebben tot het schilderen vanlevensgroote voorwerpen”; “om dat deszelfs gedrag met zyn voorbeeldig kunstvermogen
gansch geene overeenkomst had.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe Schouburg derNederlantsche Kunstschilders en Schilderessen: Waer in de Levens- en Kunstbedryven dertans levende en reets overleedene Schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig ander Schryver,
zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worden (The Hague, 1751), 2: 443.
3. See also the biographies of Frans van Mieris and Willem van Mieris in this catalogue.
4. “Een geldtellend Juffertje, met een vrolyk besje.” See the entry Courtesan Counting Money inthis catalogue. The other works by Jan van Mieris in this sale were: “Een Binnenhuys metverscheyde beelden” (An interior with various figures), no. 4; “Den Roomse Papirius, en [zijn]moeder” (The Roman Papirius, and [his’ mother), no. 17; “Jan Mieres (zyn Potrait) door hem
braaf geschildert” (Jan van Mieris [his portrait] well painted by himself), no. 79; “EenLiefhebber met een Romer in de hand” (An enthusiast holding a roemer), no. 80; “Ulisses enCirce” (Ulysses and Circe), no. 96. The latter work probably refers to Odysseus and Circe,Leiden (Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden) . See Peter Hecht, ed., De Hollandse fijnschilders:
Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Amsterdam,1989), 89; “Een Roomse Historie” (A Roman history scene), no. 97; “Beelden in eenLandschap” (Figures in a landscape), no. 98. Sale Petronella de la Court, Amsterdam, 19
October 1707, Lugt 207.
5. “Het pourtrait van den Hr. Pieter de la Court.” Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Inventory ofPetronella de la Court Notarial Archives, Notary G. Ypelaer, inv. 5338, fol. 553–642, 16
August 1707. Two other works by him are also listed in this inventory: “Een synighhuyshouden” (A frugal household), probably no. 4, note 4, and “Een Circe en Ulisses” (Circeand Ulysses), no. 96, note 4. The latter description probably refers to the work Ulisses enCirce, which was in the sale of Petronella de la Court’s collection the same year (see note 4).
6. Eric Jan Sluijter, Marlies Enklaar, and Paul Nieuwenhuizen, eds., Leids fijnschilders: VanGerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630–1760 (Exh. cat., Leiden, Museum deLakenhal) (Zwolle, 1988), 42, 54n246 refers to the inventory of Pieter de la Court van deVoort. Regionaal Archief Leiden, Archive de la Court, inv. 132, fol. 171.
7. “Een Juffertje Eten gevende aan een mosje”; “Student met verkeersbort”; “voor mij hier© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Jan van Mieris
Page 4 of 7geschildert.” Eric Jan Sluijter, Marlies Enklaar, and Paul Nieuwenhuizen, eds., Leidse
fijnschilders: van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630–1760 (Exh. cat. Leiden,Museum de Lakenhal) (Zwolle, 1988), 54n246.
8. According to Jan van Mieris, he sent this letter along with the weekly post of “HeerOortmans” (Mr. Oortmans) to the Republic. The name Oortmans suggests he was staying in
Venice with a relative of Adam Oortmans (ca. 1624–84), the late husband of Jan’s patron
Petronella de la Court. Adam Oortmans died in 1684 in Amsterdam. For a transcription andtranslation of this letter see Appendix.
9. “Voor de voornaemste van Venetia, dogh wenste weld at sy so cordiael en mild waren als sy
doorgaans beleeft syn.” Letter from Jan van Mieris to Cunera van der Cock, 14 January
1689. See Appendix.
10. Mathijs van der Eijck married in 1638 in Leiden to Christina van Mieris, the eldest daughter ofFrans van Mieris and Cunera van der Cock. They were the parents of Abraham van der Eijck(1684–1727), who would become a painter, just like his uncles Jan and Willem andgrandfather Frans. See also Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) theElder (Doornspijk, 1981), 1: 233, who wrongly assumes that Abraham passed away shortly
after his birth. Abraham was undoubtedly trained as a painter by his uncle Willem van Mieris,
who in 1697 was named his guardian in the testament of Abraham’s parents. See Regionaal
Archief Leiden, Notarial Archive, Notary Isaac van Cingelshouck, inv. 1564, deed 27, 20 June
1697.
11. This is most likely Willem Jacobsz van Heemskerck (1613–92), a cloth merchant and famousglass engraver, whose portrait Jan van Mieris painted prior to his trip to Italy (Portrait ofWillem van Heemskerk, 1685, Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden). Willem Jacobsz vanHeemskerck’s son Jacob van Heemskerck (1643–64) was portrayed by Jan’s father in 1663.
See Rudolf E.O. Ekkart, “Frans van Mieris en het portret van Jacob van Heemskerk,’ Leids
Jaarboekje 77 (1985): 47–51. On the relationship between the Van Mieris and Van
Heemskerck families, see also the biography of Frans van Mieris in this catalogue, especiallynote 3.
12. “Of daer beter gelegentheyd te vinden was, maer het schijnt, dat wy mede van d’ongeluckige
syn, dewyl men hier spreekt dat den Hertoch van Toskanen [Cosimo III de’ Medici(1642–1723)] de regering aen syn soon wil overgeven, en so Devoot geworden is, dat hy sighweynig met wereldsche saken meer bekommert.” Letter from Jan van Mieris to Cunera van
der Cock, 14 January 1689. See Appendix.
13. “Had zyn geweten zich kunnen voegen naer den Godtsdienst van het Hof; maer pal en
onwrikbaer staende op de grontslagen van zyn geloof, en geenen anderen Godtsdienst
willende omhelzen, als daer hy in geboren en opgevoed was, besloot hy liever de zuivere
waerheit te volgen.” Johan van Gool, De nieuwe Schouburgh der Nederlantsche
Kunstschilders en Schilderessen: Waer in de Levens- en Kunstbedryven der tans levende en© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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reets overleedene Schilders, die van Houbraken, noch eenig ander Schryver, zyn
aengeteekend, verhaelt worden (The Hague, 1751), 2: 444.
14. “Samaritaansch vrouwtje aan de put”; “’t laatste stuk door hem geschildert.” Eric Jan
Sluijter, Marlies Enklaar, and Paul Niewenhuizen, eds., Leidse fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou
tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630–1760 (Exh. cat. Leiden, Museum de Lakenhal) (Zwolle,1988), 42; Theodoor Hermann Lunsingh Scheurleer, Cornelia Willemijn Fock, and A.J. vanDissel, eds., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht (Leiden, 1987), 2: 447, no.
27.

Appendix
Transcription and translation of a letter from Jan van Mieris to Cunera van der Cock, 14 January
1689. Abraham Bredius transcribed the letter when it was in the Kneppelhout Collection. Thiscollection, including other papers from the Van Mieris family, was auctioned in March 1920 (theKerling sale). The original letter’s present wheareabouts are unknown. Bredius’s transcription is
located at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), The Hague, Abraham Bredius Archive,
folder: family Van Mieris. Katy Kist and Jennifer Kilian provided the translation below.
Waerde Moeder! Saluijt
Hebbende gelegentheijt gevonden om te schrijven dewijl Heer Oortmans alle weken brieven op
Holland send, so dient desen om UE onsen stand te doen verstaen sijnde Gode sij danck nog
gesont, en hebbe gelegentheijd gevonden om voor de voornaamste van Venetia wat teschilderen, dogh wenste wel dat sij so cordiaal en mild waren als sij doorgaans beleeft sijn, soudedan misschien in eenige tijd UE een troostelijker brief mogen toesenden, niet tegenstaende doe ikmijn devoor sodanig dat wij gantsche weken op onse kamer blijven zitten sonder uytgaan, hetwelk in’t begin een grote verandering gaf, dewijl ik t’huys sijnde, dagelijks swager van der Eijck
plag te besoeken waeraen wij altemet nog dickwils denken, hebbe ook nog niet een van destukjes die ik mede nam verkogt, hoewel sij yder hier wel aenstaan, maer het geldt nog meer,
beware deselve nu om te Fiorenza te voeren of daer beter gelegentheyd te vinden was, maer het
schijnt, dat wij mede van d’ongeluckige sijn, dewijl men hier spreekt dat den Hertog vanToskanen de regering aen sijn Soon wil overgeven, en so Devoot geworden is, dat hij sigh weynig
met wereltsche saken meer bekommert, dog men sal t’ ondersoeken, wenschende onsen
vorderen reijs met so goeden gesontheyd en waer t’mogelijk, met meer geluk te doen. De Goede
Godt wil geven dat wij in vrolijkheijd en goeden stant onsen vrienden weder sien, hiermede UE
alle tesamen een geluksalig Nieuwe jaer wenschende, blijve waere Moeder
UE toegenegen soon
Johannis van Mieris© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Venetia den 14ste Januarius 1689
[In margin:]
Werd ook de Groetenis gedaen aen susters [,] broeder en swager met sijn huysvrouw [,] Mons.
van der Eijck en huijsvrouw, Mr. Heemskerck, Meutje [=tante] en familie en alle welke gij weet
vriende te sijn die wegens de weijnige plaets niet genoemt konden sijn.

Translation of the letter from Jan van Mieris to Cunera van der Cock, 14 January 1689.
Dear Mother! Greetings
I have occasion to write you because Lord Oortmans [Adam Oortmans the Younger] sends lettersto Holland every week, so this one serves to apprise you of our circumstances, which, thank God,
still find us in good health. I had the opportunity to do some painting for the most eminent citizensof Venice; yet I wish that they were as cordial and generous as they are usually polite, for thenperhaps in time I might send you a more cheerful missive. This notwithstanding I do my best suchthat we spend entire weeks in our room without going out; in the beginning this was aconsiderable change because while at home I tried to visit my brother-in-law Van der Eijck daily,
which I think about quite a lot. While we have yet to sell any of the pieces that I brought along withme, everyone here likes them, although perhaps it would be more useful to take them to Florence
and see whether better opportunities can be found there. But it appears that we are among theunlucky ones. It is rumored that the Duke of Tuscany wants to hand over power to his son andhas become so devout that he is hardly involved in worldly matters anymore, yet I will look into
this in the desire to continue our trip in good health and where possible find better fortune. May
the good Lord grant that we will see our friends again in good cheer and in fine fettle. With this,wishing you and everyone a happy New Year, I remain, my dear mother,Your devoted son,
Johannis van Mieris

Venice, the 14th of January 1689

[In margin:]
Please convey my greeting to my sisters [,] brother and brother-in-law and his wife [,] Mr. van der
Eijck and his wife, Mr. Heemskerck, Meutje [=auntie] and family and everyone you know to befriends who cannot be mentioned here because of the limited space.

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Literature
Van Gool, Johan. De nieuwe Schouburg der Nederlantsche Kunstschilders en Schilderessen:
Waer in de Levens- en Kunstbedryven der tans levende en reets overleedene Schilders, dievan Houbraken, noch eenig ander Schryver, zyn aengeteekend, verhaelt worden. 2 vols. TheHague, 1750–51.
Naumann, Otto. Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder. 2 vols. Doornspijk, 1981.
Ekkart, Rudolf E.O. “Frans van Mieris en het portret van Jacob van Heemskerk.” LeidsJaarboekje 77 (1985): 47–51.
Lunsigh Scheurleer, Theodoor Hermann, Cornelia Willemijn Fock, and A.J. van Dissel, eds.
Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, Vol. 2. Leiden, 1987.
Sluijter, Eric Jan. “Schilders van ‘cleyne, subtile ende curieuse dingen’: Leidse fijnschilders
in contemporaine bronnen.” In Leidse Fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris deJonge, 1630–1760. Edited by Eric Jan Sluijter, Marlies Enklaar, and Paul Nieuwenhuizen,
14–55. Exh. cat. Leiden, Museum De Lakenhal. Zwolle, 1988.
Sluijter, Eric Jan. “Een zelfportret en de ‘schilder en zijn atelier’: het aanzien van Jan vanMieris.” Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 8 (1989): 287–307.
Hecht, Peter, ed. De Hollandsche fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van derWerff. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam, 1989.
Van Tatenhove, J. and R.J.A. Te Rijdt. “Enkele tekeningen door Jan van Mieris(1660–1690).” Delineavit et Sculpsit 31 (December 2007): 43–55.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection