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MIERIS

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 425 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MIERIS , the name of a See also:

family of artists who practised See also:painting at See also:Leiden for three generations in the 17th and 18th centuries. 1. FRANS See also:VAN MIERIS, the See also:elder (? 1635–1681), son of See also:Jan van Mieris, a See also:goldsmith and See also:diamond setter, was See also:born, according to See also:Houbraken, at Leiden on the 16th of See also:April 1635, and died there on the 12th of See also:March 1681. His See also:father wished to See also:train him to his own business, but Frans preferred See also:drawing to See also:chasing, and took service with See also:Abraham Torenvliet, a glazier who kept a school of See also:design. In his father's See also:shop he became See also:familiar with the ways and See also:dress of See also:people of distinction. His See also:eye was fascinated in turn by the sheen of See also:jewelry and stained See also:glass; and, though he soon gave up the teaching of Torenvliet for that of See also:Gerard See also:Douw and Abraham van den Tempel, he acquired a manner which had more of the finish of the exquisites of the Dutch school than of the breadth of the disciples of See also:Rembrandt. It should be See also:borne in mind that he seldom See also:chose panels of which the See also:size exceeded 12 to 15 in., and whenever his name is attached to a picture above that size we may surely assign it to his son Willem or to some other imitator. Unlike Gerard Douw when he first See also:left Rembrandt, or Jan See also:Steen when he started on an See also:independent career, Mieris never ventured to design figures as large as See also:life. Characteristic of his See also:art in its See also:minute proportions is a shiny brightness and metallic See also:polish. The subjects which he treated best are those in which he illustrated the habits or actions of the wealthier classes; but he sometimes succeeded in homely incidents and in portrait, and not unfrequently he ventured on See also:allegory. He repeatedly painted the satin skirt which Ter Borch brought into See also:fashion, and he often rivalled Ter Borch in the faithful rendering of See also:rich and highly-coloured See also:woven tissues.

But he remained below Ter Borch and See also:

Metsu, because he had not their delicate See also:perception of See also:harmony or their charming mellowness of See also:touch and tint, and he See also:fell behind Gerard Douw, because he was hard and had not his feeling for effect by concentrated See also:light and shade. In the See also:form of his See also:composition, which sometimes represents the framework of a window enlivened with greenery, and adorned with bas-reliefs within which figures are seen to the See also:waist, his See also:model is certainly Gerard Douw. It is a question whether Houbraken has truly recorded this See also:master's birthday. One of his best-known pieces, a party of ladies and gentlemen at an See also:oyster See also:luncheon, in the Hermitage at St See also:Petersburg, bears the date of 165o. Celebrated alikefor composition and finish, it would prove that Mieris had reached his See also:prime at the See also:age of fifteen. Another beautiful example, the " See also:Doctor Feeling a See also:Lady's See also:Pulse " in the See also:gallery of See also:Vienna, is dated 1656; and See also:Waagen, in one of his See also:critical essays, justly observes that it is a remarkable See also:production for a youth of twenty-one. In 1657 Mieris was married at Leiden in the presence of Jan Potheuck, a painter, and this is the earliest written See also:record of his existence on which we can implicitly rely. Of the numerous panels by Mieris, twenty-nine at least are dated—the latest being an allegory, See also:long in the Ruhl collection at See also:Cologne, illustrating what he considered the kindred vices of drinking, smoking and dicing, in the See also:year 1680. Mieris had numerous and distinguished patrons. He received valuable commissions from See also:Archduke See also:Leopold, the elector-See also:palatine, and Cosimo III., See also:grand-See also:duke of See also:Tuscany. His practice was large and lucrative, but never engendered in him either carelessness or neglect. If there be a difference between the painter's earlier and later See also:work, it is that the former was clearer and more delicate in flesh, whilst the latter was often darker and more livid in the shadows.

When he died his clients naturally went over to his son Willem, who in turn bequeathed his painting-See also:

room to his son Frans. But neither Willem nor Frans the younger equalled Frans the elder. 2. WILLEM VAN MIERIS (1662–1747), son of Frans. His See also:works are extremely numerous, being partly imitations of the paternal subjects, or mythological episodes, which Frans habitually avoided. In no See also:case did he come near the excellence of his sire. 3. FRANS VAN MIERIS, the younger (1689–1763), also lived on the traditions of his grandfather's studio. The pictures of all the generations of the Mieris family were successfully imitated by A. D. Snaphaan, who lived at See also:Leipzig and was patronized by the See also:court of See also:Anhalt-See also:Dessau. To those who would study his deceptive form of art a visit to the collection of Worlitz near Dessau may afford instruction.

End of Article: MIERIS

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MIFFLIN, THOMAS (1744–1800)

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