Willem Wissing (1656–1687)

• Was a Dutch portrait artist who worked in England.

• He was born in either Amsterdam or The Hague.

• He studied at The Hague under Willem Doudijns and Arnoldus van Ravestyn.

• In 1676, he moved to England, where he studied with and assisted Peter Lely.

• After Lely's death in 1680, Wissing emerged as his most important pupil.

• Godfrey Kneller was the only contemporary portrait artist in England to rival Wissing.

• Wissing’s royal sitters include Charles II of England, Catherine of Braganza, George of Denmark and James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth. 

• In 1685, James II of England sent Wissing to the Netherlands to paint portraits of his Dutch son-in-law and daughter, the future William III of England and the future Mary II of England.

• The portraits were often repeated; versions are on display in the Great Hall of the Wren building at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

• Wissing died in 1687 at the peak of his fame as a portrait painter.

• According to Arnold Houbraken his epitaph was Immodicis brevis est aetas, meaning Brief is the life of the outstanding.

• Fellow Dutch immigrant Jan van der Vaart worked in his workshop and added the draperies and landscapes in the portraits painted by Wissing. 

• After Wissing's death in 1687, van der Vaart continued Wissing's workshop.

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