Martin van Meytens
Martin van Meytens (Martin van Meitens, Jr.) (June 24, 1695, Stockholm - March 23, 1770, Vienna - Austrian portrait painter of the Baroque era.
Born into the family of the Dutch artist Martin Van Meitens Sr. His father moved from The Hague to Sweden. He received his first painting lessons from his father. To improve his skills, Maytens traveled a number of capitals of European states: in 1714 he visited London, in 1717 - Paris and in 1721 - Vienna, then settled in Italy, where he worked during 1723-1729 (Rome, Turin).
Here in Florence, Milan and Turin his small-sized paintings became very popular.
At the beginning, his main works were miniature portraits on enamel.
Around 1730, Maytens turned to painting in oils.
He briefly visited his family living in Sweden, and then in 1730 returned to Austria and settled in the capital of the empire. Here he soon became a very popular portrait painter, not only among the local aristocracy, but also among the royal family.
In 1732 he became a court painter, and in 1759 he was appointed director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
