Explore: William Wissing

(1656 - 1687)

William Wissing, said to have been born in Amsterdam, studied at The Hague and worked in London from 1676. He was an assistant to portrait painter Sir Peter Lely, through whom he found patronage at court. Wissing was much patronised by James II, who sent him to the Netherlands in 1685 to paint portraits of William and Mary. There is a French influence in Wissing’s paintings, reminiscent of the work of Nicolas de Largillièrre, who also worked with Lely in London. By 1685, Wissing commanded a busy studio. His assistants included Jan Vandervaart, who added landscape backgrounds, drapery and floral accessories to the portraits. Wissing died while working on a portrait of the Fifth Earl of Exeter and his sons, at Burghley House in Lincolnshire.