Daniël Mijtens

He was born in Delft, the son of Maerten Mijtens, an art dealer and saddler from Brussels (c. 1552–1628), and Anneken Tyckmakers (died 1611).

Mijtens made visits to the Netherlands in 1626 and 1630, perhaps to study the latest developments in his field, more particularly the works of Rubens and Van Dyck.

Mijtens also made copies of old portraits of royal sitters, including; James IV of Scotland,[7] his wife Margaret Tudor, and Mary, Queen of Scots.

[8] The portrait of James IV may follow a lost original described in an inventory of Henry VIII as a "picture of Jacobe kinge of Scottes with an hawke on his fist".

[9] Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford was a patron of Mijtens, and in 1618 while discussing a potential purchase of pictures by Hans Holbein the Younger, offered to have substitute portraits made as copies that would be hard to distinguish from the originals.