to the position of deacon of the Waalse Kerk (Walloon Church) of Utrecht, a position he remained in for five years. He married Maria Willaerts on 3 February 1675 in the French reformed Janskerk in Utrecht. His wife was the granddaughter of the marine painter Adam Willaerts, daughter of the painter Cornelis Willaerts and niece of the fish still life painter Jacob Gillig. Some sources state that Mignon moved back to his native Frankfurt in 1676 based on a record that seems to imply that his 6th child was baptized in Frankfurt on 17 December 1676. By 1677 he would then have moved back to Utrecht. Mignon died in Utrecht at the age of 39. He left two daughters when he died, Catharina and Anna. Besides Maria Sibylla Merian, another known pupil of Mignon was Ernst Stuven. Work General Mignon was a specialist still life painter whose subjects ranged from flowers, fruit, forest still lifes, game pieces, garland paintings, fish still lifes and insect pieces. His best-known works are his elaborate compositions of flowers and fruits arranged in niches or on stone ledges, or displayed in grottos or amidst ruins. As Mignon never dated his compositions it has been notoriously difficult to establish a chronology for his work. On stylistic grounds it is assumed that his more elaborate still lifes of flowers, characterised by clear colours, sharp focus and the use of a dark background, are Mignon's distillation of de Heem's style. Such works likely date from the years around 1670 when he was working closely with his master in de Heem's workshop. The majority of Mignon's works take the portrait format and only a few are in landscape format. As Mignon died at a relatively young age, it is reasonable to assume that the circa 400 still-life paintings attributed to him were executed with the assistance of his workshop or by followers of his style. His large output demonstrates the popularity of his works, which were collected widely in the 17th and 18h centuries, including by king Louis XIV of France and the Elector of Saxony. Mignon's success also attracted followers and imitators such as Jan Mortel, Conraet Roepel and Jacob Bart. The principal influences on his work are the works of de Heem and Marrel. De Heem's compositions were the principal reference point for Mignon's still lifes. His work is distinguished from de Heem by his rendering of