• Also known as Van der Schmissen.
• Was a German painter, known primarily for portraits.
• He was born to a family of merchants who were originally from Brabant.
• As Mennonites, they fled religious persecution to live in Schleswig-Holstein, which was then part of Denmark.
• They eventually settled in Altona.
• In 1730, he married Denner's sister, Catharina.
• Their son, Jakob, also became a painter and later worked as a drawing professor in Altona.
• Around 1738, he was living in Altona and, the following two years, was a court painter in Braunschweig.
• During the remainder of the 1740s, he was in Dresden and Amsterdam.
• The 1750s found him in London.
• When he fell ill with gout, he returned to Altona in hopes of being cured; but his condition worsened until he became paralyzed and soon died.
