Peter Martin Meytens the Elder (1648- 1736)

•  Also spelled Martin Mijtens the Elder, or Mytens was a Dutch-Swedish painter.
• Trained in the Netherlands, he worked principally in the Dutch Republic.
• He was born at The Hague in the Dutch Republic into a family of artists.
• His father was Isaac Mijtens.
• His father and his son Martin van Meytens, known as "The Younger" were both painters.
• He went to Stockholm with his older brother Dietrich Mijtens where his portraits were well received.
• In 1681, he decided to stay and shortly after was married to Johanna de Bruyn. 
• Many of his paintings were left unsigned.
• He had several students, including Georg Desmarées and Lucas von Breda.
• He apparently suffered from some sort of senility or insanity in his later years.
• He died in Stockholm during 1736.
• After his death, his collection was sold to Prussian diplomat Count Gustav Adolf von Gotter.
• He was essentially forgotten until 1841, when his work was reevaluated by literary and art critic Nils Arfwidsson, who wrote about him in Frey, a magazine devoted to the arts and sciences.
• The displayed painting is a crop from: Peter Martin Meytens the Elder, Self-portrait, between 1670 and 1736.
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