Martin van Meytens

Joseph de France and his Family

Selfportrait

Family Group

Martin van Meytens (June 24, 1695 – March 23, 1770) was a Dutch-Swedish painter who painted members of the Royal Court of Austria such as Marie Antoinette, Maria Theresa of Austria, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, the Emperor's family and others. His painting style has inspired many other painters to paint in a similar format.

Life and career

Martin van Meytens was born and baptised in Stockholm, Sweden. He began his artistic studies with his father, the painter Martin Meytens the Elder, who had moved from The Hague to Sweden. He went rather early on a study trip. He visited London, Paris and Vienna, then he lived and worked for a long time in Italy (Rome, Turin). At the beginning he painted little enamel miniature portraits, and he changed to oil painting only around 1730, having settled in Vienna. Here he became very popular as a portrait painter in the circles of the court and the aristocracy. In 1732 he became a court painter, and in 1759 the director of the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was his protégé.

Meytens was one of the most significant Austrian painters of representative Baroque courtly portrait, and through his pupils and followers his influence remained alive and widespread for a long time throughout the whole Empire. His personal virtues, varied interests, erudition and pleasant manners were highly appreciated by his contemporaries.

The Wedding Supper depicts the wedding of Princess Isabella of Parma and Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, 5 October 1760, at Hofburg Palace's Redoutensaele (Redoute Hall). The moment depicted is when the dessert is served, in the middle of the table is a garden made by sugar crust.[1]

Among his pupils was Giovanni Gabriele Cantone (born Vienna, May 24, 1710).[2]
Works

ca. 1731; Kneeling Nun, Recto, (Nationalmuseum - Stockholm)
1741; Kaiser Franz I
1745–1750; Familie der Grafen Pálffy
1750; Archduke Maximilian, (The Winnipeg Art Gallery)
1752–1753; Fam. Grill, (Museum Gothenburg)
1750–1755; Maria Theresia als Herrscherin, (Schönbrunn Palace)
1754; Ksl. Familie, (Schönbrunn Palace);
1759; Maria Theresia, (Academy of Fine Arts)

Selected works

Works

Maria Amalia of Habsburg Lorraina Parma

Maria Josepha of Austria, 1767

Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress

Johanna Gabriele of Habsburg Lorraine

Portrait Franz I Stephan (workshop)

References

"wedding-supper". www.google.com. Retrieved 2015.

Biografia degli artisti, Volume one, Venice, Francesco de Boni, 1840, page 657.

Other sources

Biography @ Austria Forum
Biography @ the Web Gallery of Art
Biography and more paintings @ ArtExperts.