Willem van Miers

WILLEM VAN MIERIS (Netherlands, 1662 - January 26, 1747)
"Kitchen scene".
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower right area.
Measurements: 26,5 x 39 cm; 46,5 x 59 cm (frame).
In this work two of the great genres of the Flemish and Dutch Baroque are combined: genre painting and still life. Thus, the still life is presented as part of a more complex composition, starring a large figure that also takes center stage in the foreground, integrating into the scenario, a distinctly baroque scenographic resource. The various foods are arranged in the foreground, in an open, asymmetrical and dynamic composition, typically baroque. While in the background a group of characters swirl behind the table. The still life with large figures of the Flemish school has its origins in the sixteenth century, in the works of Pieter Aertsen (1508-1575) and Joachim Beuckelaer (1533-1574). Both painters made great paintings that advanced the Baroque by their naturalism and scenographic value, although they still show the variegation of elements typical of Mannerism.
Willem van Mieris was a Dutch painter belonging to the Golden Age of Dutch painting, the second son of Frans van Mieris the Elder and younger brother of Jan van Mieris. After training in his father's workshop, in 1683 he was admitted to the local artists' guild, the Sint Lucasgilde (St. Luke's Guild), where he came to play a prominent role for many years. Willem van Mieris devoted himself to genre and portrait painting, as well as landscape and historical subjects. From about 1700, he specialized in interior scenes and kitchen motifs, a genre highly prized in the Dutch tradition.
He was a prolific painter, although he never achieved either the technical mastery or the notoriety of his father. Around 1694 he founded, together with Jacob Toorenvliet and Carel de Moor, an art academy for the training of young artists, including his own son Frans van Mieris the Younger. This institution functioned until 1736. In the last years of his life, Willem suffered a partial loss of vision.