Portrait of a Man, 1669 along with Mieris Portrait of a Woman, 1669, also included in this exhibition, were commissioned as pedant portraits. Pendant portraits are two portrait paintings designed to hang together as a pair. Pendant portraits in the 17th century Northern Dutch communities were of newly wedded couples. Thematically, these portraits served as allegorical references to the Bible’s notation of the right and left hand of God. The left side, allegorical to left hand of God was the lesser and evil side, while the right hand of God, was the mightier and righteous side. The pendant portraits were designed for the viewer to stand with the couple, The wife is on the viewer’s left side and the husband is on the viewer’s right. The identity of the couple in these pendent portraits is unknown.
Frans van Mieris the Elder was one of the most successful Dutch fijnschiders “fine painters”, born and died in the city of Lieden from 1635-1681. The fihnschider were painters who strove to create highly realistic materiality of their subject through tight meticulous brush strokes. Mieris trained with three different artists the first was Abraham Van Toorienvilet, Arabham ven den Tempel, and Garard Dou. Dou, who heavily influenced Mieris, taught him precision painting with oils and the fijnschilder style of painting, a style in which Dou would later dubbed Mieris as the prince of his pupils. Mieris emulated Dou in both style and subject matter. Mieris, became famous for his excellent handling of the fijnshilder style in his narrative genre paintings, and portraits.
Joycelyn Fitts
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