(b Leiden, 2 June 1662; d Leiden, 26 Jan 1747). Painter and draughtsman, son of (1) Frans van Mieris (i). He trained with his father and probably contributed to several of his later works. It is almost certain, for example, that he finished his father’s signed painting of the Holy Family (1681; priv. col., see Naumann, 1981, ii, pl. 121). The earliest examples signed and dated by Willem himself are from 1682, after which there is a large oeuvre of dated works up to the 1730s, when he became partly blind. In 1693 he joined the Leiden Guild of St Luke, for which he served as headman several times and once as dean. Around 1694, with the painters Jacob Toorenvliet (c. 1635–1719) and Karel de Moor, he founded a drawing academy in Leiden, which he and de Moor directed until 1736.

Part of the Mieris, van family

• Mieris, Willem van (1662-1747)
  • Leiden, §2: Art life and organization
  • Mieris, van
  • Moor, Karel de
  • Netherlands,the, §III, 4(iii): Painting and graphic arts, c 1550–c 1680: Leiden
  • attributions
    • Mieris, van: (1) Frans van Mieris (i), §2: Critical reception and posthumous reputation
  • groups and movements
    • Leiden `Fine’ painters
  • patrons and collectors
    • Brydges, James
    • Fitzwilliam, Richard
    • Orange Nassau: (7) William IV, Stadholder and Prince of Orange
    • Sparre, Gustaf Adolf