The Penitent Mary Magdalene

The son of Frans van Mieris, Willem continued the tradition of his father and other artists in Leiden who were known by the term 'Fine Painters'. Concentrating on producing works of great precision and attention to detail with focus on minutely rendered textures, Willem's work knew considerable success in his own lifetime, appealing to many important French and German collectors, including King Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, who acquired many of his paintings for his Dresden Gallery.