MICHIEL VAN MUSSCHER (Rotterdam, 1645 - Amsterdam, 1705) Portrait of a lady Signed and dated lower right: M. V Musscher/pinxit A. 1692 Oil on canvas, 56X48.5 cm Provenance: London, Phillips, 7 December 1993, lot 5 London, Phillips, 5 July 1994, lot 223 Bibliography: https://rkd.nl/imageslite/555455 Michiel van Musscher came from a family of artists, his grandfather Jacob van Musscher painted, as did his maternal grandfather, the cabinetmaker Michiel Comans I (1587; ca. 1664) and his uncle Michiel Comans II (1621; 87). However, his education was varied and diverse, in fact he was sent to Martinus Saeghmolen's workshop to learn the basics of drawing and the following year (presumably 1654) he was apprenticed to Abraham van den Tempel to learn how to mix colours and handle the brush, in 1665 he took art lessons from Gabriel Metsu, and then completed his training in Haarlem in 1667, spending three years in Adriaen van Ostade's workshop. Although he devoted himself to genre painting, the painter's critical fortune was built up in the portrait genre.