-
1 of 253523 objects
A Family Group Signed and dated 1728
Oil on panel | 33.6 x 28.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 405055
-
Van der Mij was a pupil of Frans van Mieris II, a pupil of his father, Frans van Mieris I, who in turn was a pupil of Gerrit Dou. This work is dated 1728, exactly a century after Dou began his professional career, entering Rembrandt’s studio in 1628; Van der Mij worked for another thirty years, producing small genre scenes, like this one, in the manner of the ‘Leiden Fine Painters (‘Fijnschilders’). All this demonstrates the extraordinary extent and longevity of the tradition of Gerrit Dou.
By this date the imagery of the peasant family has perhaps become more idealised and integrated into the esteemed traditions of painting. There is here, for example, a very conscious echo of the Holy Family with an elder brother clutching the family spaniel, playing the role of the infant John the Baptist clutching his lamb. It is often said that Italian altarpieces exhibit ‘pyramidal compositions’; the family here certainly does.
Inscribed: 'H: van d. Mij / Ao 1728'Provenance
In the sale of the collection of Mary, Countess of Holderness, in 1802; acquired by George IV before 1806; recorded in the ante room to the Dining Room at Carlton House in 1819, as by Frans van Mieris the Younger (no 101); in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace in 1841 (no 109)
-
Creator(s)
(framemaker)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
-
/* render($featured_in); */
Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
33.6 x 28.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
50.6 x 46.0 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
A Family Group with a Mother Feeding her Children
The Dutch mother