Adriaen van der Werff

Adriaen van der Werff (21 January 1659 – 12 November 1722) was a Dutch painter of portraits and erotic, devotional and mythological scenes. He painted several works for the Medicis. His brother, Pieter van der Werff (1661–1722), was his principal pupil and assistant.

At the age of ten, he began to take lessons, two years later moving in with Eglon van der Neer, specializing in clothes and draperie. At the age of seventeen, he founded his own studio in Rotterdam where he later became the head of guild of Saint Luc. In 1696, he was paid a visit by Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine and his wife, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici. The couple ordered two paintings to be sent to Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Anna Maria Luisa's father, in Florence. During the next years Van der Werff traveled regularly between Düsseldorf and his home town.

In 1703, he became the official court painter and a knight, when his former teacher and predecessor Van der Neer died. Van der Werff was paid extremely well by the Elector for his biblical or classical (erotic) paintings.