page_title: Willem van Mieris
section_title: Patrons and collectors
hierarchical_section_title: Willem van Mieris / Patrons and legacy / Patrons and collectors
context_page_description: Willem van Mieris was an 18th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands.
context_section_description: Willem van Mieris was supported mostly by two patrons: Johan Hendrik van Wassenaer Obdam (1683–1745) and the De la Court Family. Count Van Wassenaer Obdam was a nobleman and politician from The Hague, who also was a great art lover and collector. He was one of the most important clients of Van Mieris and showed great interest in Dutch genre paintings, also called "modern" pieces at the time. He appreciated paintings that represented the familiar, everyday circumstances. The 1750 sales catalogue of his collection (121 pieces) that was made after his death tells us that Van Wassenaer owned work by Adriaan van Ostade, Gerard Dou, Jan Steen, Frans I van Mieris, Gabriel Metsu, and Willem van Mieris. The catalogue mentions no fewer than 10 paintings by Willem van Mieris: seven genre paintings, one of which might be An Old Man Reading a Newspaper, and three landscapes. The most outstanding pieces are four genre paintings representing a kitchen or shop scene. The family archive of Van Wassenaer in Twickel has provided evidence that the two men had a close relationship: Van Wassenaer bought paintings directly from van Mieris, including A Kitchen with a Fishmonger, A Woman Weighing Chestnuts, A Grocer's Shop, Interior with Monkeys, and two landscapes. However, it remains unclear whether Van Wassenaer commissioned Van Mieris to make these paintings, but the regular purchase of expensive paintings from the artist himself suggest that the two had close and regular contact. Van Mieris probably selected subject matter that appealed to Van Wassenaer in order to establish even better relations.
  The arguably more important patron, however, was Pieter de la Court van der Voort (1664–1739), son of Pieter de la Court (1618–1685) and his second wife, Catharina van der Voort (1622–1674). The De la Court family were rich cloth merchants, and Pieter de la Court van der Voort was a prominent art collector. In his mansion in Leiden he devoted three separate rooms exclusively for the exhibition of his huge collection of paintings and other rooms contained more paintings. He is known to have commissioned Willem van Mieris to make paintings of all kinds – genre, portrait, landscape, history, and still life. In fact, he was so impressed by van Mieris' skill, that he did not only commission original works, but also copies of well-known and much appreciated paintings. According to Pieter's handwritten inventory of 1731 and that of his son Allard de la Court (1688–1755) in 1749, Pieter commissioned Van Mieris to paint ten copies after the work of famous 17th-century painters, such as his father Frans I van Mieris, Gerard Dou, Ary de Vois (1632–1635 to 1680) and Philip Wouwerman (1619–1688). These works must have been accessible to him, although it is not known where the originals were located when Van Mieris copied them. Such copies functioned as high-valuable substitutes for much-loved 17th-century paintings that were unavailable to most collectors. Some of these copies were so good that both salesmen and owners would let them pass as the originals. However, the collectors eager to buy copies still held a clear distinction in value between original and copy. An average copy by Willem van Mieris commissioned by Pieter de la Court van der Voort was 60 guilders, while he was paid much more for work of his own design. In total, Pieter de la Court van der Voort commissioned at least 28 paintings, including copies, from Van Mieris. The large collection and close contact between the two men gave Van Mieris the opportunity to get inspired by the work of other artists, such as Van Bossuit's sculptures, on which many of Van Mieris' drawings are based Besides paintings, Pieter de la Court van der Voort also commissioned four vases for the garden of his Leiden mansion (see below). The two were not only associated through business, but were also intimate friends and Pieter de la Court van der Voort was proud of that. He denied any offer on his friend's work and protected the works themselves and their uniqueness carefully. After his death, he left his collection to 
caption: The Drinker, 1706
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