and showed great interest in Dutch genre paintings, also called "modern" pieces at the time. He appreciated paintings that represented the familiar, everyday circumstances. The 1750 sales catalogue of his collection (121 pieces) that was made after his death tells us that Van Wassenaer owned work by Adriaan van Ostade, Gerard Dou, Jan Steen, Frans I van Mieris, Gabriel Metsu, and Willem van Mieris. The catalogue mentions no fewer than 10 paintings by Willem van Mieris: seven genre paintings, one of which might be An Old Man Reading a Newspaper, and three landscapes. The most outstanding pieces are four genre paintings representing a kitchen or shop scene. The family archive of Van Wassenaer in Twickel has provided evidence that the two men had a close relationship: Van Wassenaer bought paintings directly from van Mieris, including A Kitchen with a Fishmonger, A Woman Weighing Chestnuts, A Grocer's Shop, Interior with Monkeys, and two landscapes. However, it remains unclear whether Van Wassenaer commissioned Van Mieris to make these paintings, but the regular purchase of expensive paintings from the artist himself suggest that the two had close and regular contact. Van Mieris probably selected subject matter that appealed to Van Wassenaer in order to establish even better relations. The arguably more important patron, however, was Pieter de la Court van der Voort (1664–1739), son of Pieter de la Court (1618–1685) and his second wife, Catharina van der Voort (1622–1674). The De la Court family were rich cloth merchants, and Pieter de la Court van der Voort was a prominent art collector. In his mansion in Leiden he devoted three separate rooms exclusively for the exhibition of his huge collection of paintings and other rooms contained more paintings. He is known to have commissioned Willem van Mieris to make paintings of all kindsgenre, portrait, landscape, history, and still life. In fact, he was so impressed by van Mieris' skill, that he did not only commission original works, but also copies of well-known and much appreciated paintings. According to Pieter's handwritten inventory of 1731 and that of his son Allard de la Court (1688–1755) in 1749, Pieter commissioned Van Mieris to paint ten copies after the work of famous 17th-century painters, such as his father Frans I van Mieris, Gerard Dou, Ary de Vois (1632–1635 to 1680) and Philip Wouwerman (1619–1688). These works must have been accessible to him, although it is not known where