Mieris,
says Ireland, "was frequently paid a ducat per hour for his works. His
intimacy and friendship for Jan Steen, that excellent painter and
bon vivant, seems to have led him into much inconvenience. After a
night's debauch, quitting Jan Steen, he fell into a common drain;
whence he was extricated by a poor cobbler and his wife, and, treated
by them with much kindness, he repaid the obligation by presenting
them with a small picture, which, by his recommendation, was sold
for a considerable sum."
The amazingly minute picture of "The Poulterer's Shop" which hangs in
the National Gallery as a pendant to Dou's work with the same title,
is by William van Mieris, the son of Dou's favourite pupil. He also
was born at Leyden, that teeming mother of painters. Frans van Mieris,
his father, died at Leyden in 1681; William died at Leyden in 1747.
Above the work of Frans van Mieris I would put that of Gabriel Metsu,
another of Dou's pupils, and also a son of Leyden, where he was born
in 1630. Upon Metsu's work Terburg, however, exercised more influence
than did Gerard Dou. "The Music Lesson" and "The Duet" at the National
Gallery are good examples of his pleasant painting. Even better is
his work at the Wallace Collection. He died in 1667 in Amsterdam,
where one of his best pictures "The Breakfast"--No.
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