The Penitent Magdalene

Dutch painter and draughtsman. He was apprenticed to the portrait painter Cornelis Picolet (1626–79) from 1668 to 1670 and then from ca.1671 to 1676 to Eglon van der Neer in Rotterdam. From 1676 van der Werff produced small portraits and genre paintings as an independent master. In 1687 van der Werff, by then a successful artist, married the wealthy Margaretha Rees (1669–1731), whose guardian, Nicolaes Anthonis Flinck, owned a collection of prints and paintings. In 1691 and 1695 van der Werff was head of the Rotterdam Guild of St Luke. Comment on works: Religious; History; Mythology.