women within the context of genre painting, a suggestion that is evidently followed by Willem van Mieris throughout his genre paintings. One of Willem van Mieris' major influences was Francis van Bossuit (1635–1692). Van Bossuit studied Italian sculpture in Rome and was esteemed as a sculptor in Amsterdam from 1680 until his death. Willem van Mieris turned to Van Bossuit's classicized sculptures to develop his own aesthetic for portraying idealized female nudes. Frits Scholten, the senior curator of sculpture at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, has suggested that Willem van Mieris borrowed poses and gestures directly from Francis van Bossuit's sculptures and applied them throughout his own oeuvre. Between the years 1669 and 1702, Willem van Mieris made at least thirteen drawings on parchment modeled after van Bossuit's sculptures, believed to have been produced as works of art rather than preparatory studies for his history paintings. Models Agneta Chapman, Willem van Mieris' wife, is considered to have acted as the artist's first model. During the beginning stages of van Mieris' career between 1680 and 1687, the artist produced numerous paintings and drawings depicting young women often represented as mythological figures, which were modelled after his wife. In van Mieris' painting Flora, which currently resides in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, it is suggested that Agneta served as the model. In this painting, van Mieris disguises his wife as Flora, the ancient Roman goddess of flowers, fertility and spring. The inclusion of peonies helps signify feminine beauty and fertility, which is appropriate given the context of the painting's execution taking place only one year before Willem's and Agneta's wedding. A similar face, suggested to be modeled after Agneta's, reappears in many of van Mieris' early works, including Allegory of Arrogance from 1684, Old Man Seducing a Young Woman from 1683, Artemis Holding an Arrow from 1686, and Woman with a Bird Cage (Lesbia) from 1687. Comparisons have been drawn between Willem van Mieris and Rembrandt, who used his wife Saskia as the model for his depiction of the goddess Flora. Patrons and legacy Patrons and collectors Willem van Mieris was supported mostly by two patrons: Johan Hendrik van Wassenaer Obdam (1683–1745) and the De la Court Family. Count Van Wassenaer Obdam was a nobleman and politician from The Hague, who also was a great art lover and collector. He was one of the most important clients of Van Mieris