Michael Mierevelt
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Michiel Janszoon ( Jansz.) van Mierevelt (; also spelled Miereveld or Miereveldt; 1 May 1566 – 27 June 1641) was a Dutch painter and draftsman of the
Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...
.


Biography

Van Mierevelt was born and died in
Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...
, as a son of a
goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...
, who apprenticed him to the copperplate engraver
Hieronymus Wierix Hieronymus Wierix (1553–1619) was a Flemish engraver, draughtsman and publisher. He is known for his reproductive engravings after the work of well-known local and foreign artists including Albrecht Dürer. Together with other members of the ...
. He subsequently became a pupil of Willem Willemz and Augusteyn of Delft, until
Anthonie van Montfoort Anthonie Blocklandt van Montfoort, Anthonie van Blocklandt or Anthonie van Montfoort (1533 or 1534 - 18 October 1583) was a Dutch painter. Life He was born in Montfoort, where his father was at one time mayor. He went to learn under Hendrick Swe ...
(Houbraken calls him ''Antony Blokland''Michiel Mierevelt biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by
Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...
, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature), who had seen and admired two of Mierevelt's early engravings, ''Christ and the Samaritan'' and ''Judith and Holofernes'', invited him to enter his school at
Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
. He registered as a member of the Guild of St. Luke in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
in 1625.RKD entry on Mierevelt
/ref> Devoting himself first to
still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...
s, he eventually took up
portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...
, in which he achieved such success that the many commissions entrusted to him necessitated the employment of numerous assistants, by whom hundreds of portraits were turned out in factory fashion. Today over 500 paintings are or have been attributed to him. The works that can with certainty be ascribed to his own brush are remarkable for their sincerity, severe drawing and harmonious color, but comparatively few of the two thousand or more portraits that bear his name are wholly his own handiwork. So great was his reputation that he was patronized by royalty in many countries and acquired great wealth. The king of Sweden and the count palatine of Neuburg presented him with golden chains;
Albert VII, Archduke of Austria Albert VII (; 13 November 1559 – 13 July 1621) was the ruling Archduke of Austria for a few months in 1619 and, jointly with his wife, Isabella Clara Eugenia, sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands between 1598 and 1621. Prior to this, he had ...
, at whose court he lived in
Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...
, gave him a pension; and
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
vainly endeavoured to induce him to visit the English court. Though Mierevelt is chiefly known as a portrait painter, he also executed some mythological pieces of minor importance. Many of his portraits have been reproduced in line by the leading Dutch engravers of his time. He died at Delft. The
Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...
in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
has the richest collection of Mierevelt's works, chief of them being the portraits of William, Philip William, Maurice, and Frederick Henry of Orange, and of the count palatine
Frederick V Frederick V or Friedrich V may refer to: *Frederick V, Duke of Swabia (1164–1170) * Frederick V, Count of Zollern (d.1289) *Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg (c. 1333–1398), German noble * Frederick V of Austria (1415–1493), or Frederick II ...
. At the
Mauritshuis The Mauritshuis (, ; ) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van ...
in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
are the portraits of four princes of the house of Orange, of Frederick V as
king of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in Golden Bull of Sicily, 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings and first gained the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of th ...
, and of
Louise de Coligny Louise de Coligny (23 September 1555 – 9 November 1620) was a princess consort of Orange as the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent. She was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny, seigneur de Châtillon by his first wife, Charlotte de L ...
as a widow. Other portraits by him are at nearly all the leading continental galleries, notably at Brunswick (3), Gotha (2), Schwerin (3), Munich (2), Paris (Louvre, 3), Dresden (4), Berlin (2), and Darmstadt (3). The town hall of Delft also has numerous examples of his work.


Legacy

Many of his pupils and assistants rose to fame. The most gifted of them were
Paulus Moreelse Paulus Moreelse (1571 – 6 March 1638) was a Dutch painter, mainly of portraits. Life Moreelse was born and lived most of his life in Utrecht. He was a pupil of the Delft portrait painter Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, who had himself been ...
, Jan Antonisz. van Ravesteyn,
Daniel Mijtens Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...
, Anthonie Palamedesz., Johan van Nes, and Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet. His sons Pieter (1596–1623) and Jan (died 1633), and his son-in-law Jacob Delff, probably painted many of the pictures which go under his name. His portrait was painted by
Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...
and engraved by Jacob Delff. File:Portret van Philips Willem (1554-1618), prins van Oranje Rijksmuseum SK-A-256.jpeg, Philip William File:Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt 001.jpg,
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange Frederick Henry (; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from his older half-brother's death on 23 April 1625 until his ...
File:Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt - Ambrogio Spinola.jpg,
Ambrogio Spinola Ambrogio Spinola Doria, 1st Marquess of Los Balbases and 1st Duke of Sesto (1569 – 25 September 1630) was an Italian military leader and nobleman of the Republic of Genoa, who served as a Spanish general and won a number of important battles. ...
File:Ambrogio Spinola dli 0613700282.jpg, Engraved after Michiel van Miereveld,
Ambrogio Spinola
', 1623, engraving

File:Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt - Portret van een vrouw.jpg, Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, ''Portrait of a woman'',
Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (, ) is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Lyon. Located near the Place des Terreaux, it is housed in a former Benedictine convent which was active during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was res ...
File:Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt - Portrait of a Woman - WGA15622.jpg, Portrait of a Woman File:Michiel-Jansz van Mierevelt (attr) Bildnis einer jungen adeligen Dame.jpg, Portrait of a Young Woman File:Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Double Portrait of a Husband and Wife with Tulip, Bulb, and Shells.jpg, ''Double Portrait of a Husband and Wife with Tulip, Bulb, and Shells'' oil on panel painting by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, 1609 File:Der junge Friedrich V. C-B 011.jpg,
Frederick V of the Palatinate Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fr ...
, 1613 File:Van Mierevelt RM annotated.jpg,
Autopsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...


Notes


References


Sources

* Attribution: *


External links

*
Works and literature on Michiel Jansz. van MiereveltVermeer and The Delft School
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt {{DEFAULTSORT:Mierevelt, Michiel Jansz van 1566 births 1641 deaths Dutch draughtsmen Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from The Hague Painters from Delft Dutch portrait painters