A Soldier Smoking a Pipe (Self-Portrait)
Artist
Frans van Mieris
(Dutch, 1635–1681)
Date1662
Mediumoil on panel
Dimensionspanel: 14 x 11 cm (5 1/2 x 4 5/16 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineBequest from an Estate
Object number2003.51
Label TextFrans van Mieris was one of Holland's most popular and well-paid artists during the third quarter of the seventeenth century. A leading member of the Leiden School of fijnschilders (fine painters), Van Mieris produced pictures of meticulous detail and finish.
This pair of paintings depicts the artist and his wife, Cunera van der Cock. Van Mieris's virtuoso technique is well demonstrated in his own portrait, where he captures the textures of a variety of materials including the velvet and feathers of his cap, the metal of his cuirass, and the expensive fabrics of his sash and scarf. Van Mieris also delights in capturing details of human interest, like his wife pulling the ear of the family dog, or the more subtle detail of the delicate whiff of smoke coming from the corner of his mouth.ProvenanceCollection of Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz (died 1716), Dusseldorf; transferred to Mannheim, 1730; transferred to Munich shortly before 1799; Pinakothek cat. no. 412, 1904; sold to Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna, 1936; dealer D. Katz, Dieren; Charles and Edith Neuman de Vegvar, Vienna, before 1938; sequestered by the Nazis during World War II; Vegvar collection, Greenwich, CT, 1970; by descent to Erna C. Neuman de Vegvar, Scarsdale, NY, by 1987; bequeathed to the present collection, 2003.On View
Not on viewCollections
Frans van Mieris
1662
