Willem Wissing Portrait Of A Man In Armor And Ermine Cloak, 17th Century - Attribution!

Willem Wissing Portrait of a Man in Armour and Ermine Mantle, 17th century - attribution! The portrait probably represents William III (1650-1702), as Prince of Orange Technique: oil on canvas Condition: very good, slight damage to the paint, discolouration and yellowing Signature: not found Dimensions: canvas 112 cm by 96 cm with frame 119 cm by 104 cm Willem Wissing, known in England as William Wissing (1656[1] – 10 September 1687), was a Dutch portrait painter who worked in England. Biography He was born in Amsterdam[2] or The Hague, and studied in The Hague under Willem Doudijns (1630-1697) and Arnoldus van Ravestyn (1615-1690). In 1676 he moved to England, where he studied with and assisted Peter Lely. After Lely's death in 1680, Wissing became his most important pupil. Godfrey Kneller was the only contemporary portrait painter in England to rival Wissing. Wissing's royal sitters included Charles II of England, Catherine of Braganza, George of Denmark, and James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth. In 1685, James II of England sent Wissing to the Netherlands to paint portraits of his Dutch son-in-law and daughter, the future William III of England and the future Mary II of England. The portraits were often repeated; versions hang in the Great Hall of the Wren at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Wissing died in 1687 at the height of his fame as a portrait painter, at Burghley House, the home of John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter, near Stamford in Lincolnshire. Some suspected that he had been poisoned out of jealousy of his success. According to Arnold Houbraken, his epitaph was Immodicis brevis est aetas, meaning Brief is the life of the exceptional.[3] He was buried in St Martin's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire. Fellow Dutch immigrant Jan van der Vaart worked in his studio and added the draperies and landscapes in the portraits painted by Wissing. After Wissing's death in 1687, van der Vaart continued Wissing's studio.[4] Many of Wissing's portraits of prominent sitters and his self-portrait were circulated in mezzotint.