MIJTENS (MEYTENS, MYTENS), Dutch family of painters
Dutch family of painters of Flemish origin. The earliest known artist of this family was Aert Mijtens (1541-1602), a history and portrait painter who worked in Naples and Rome. His brother Martin Mijtens, a saddle- and coach-maker, fled to the northern Netherlands and had two sons who also became painters: Daniel Mijtens I, who was prominent in England for a period as a portrait painter in the Stuart court, and Isaac Mijtens (c. 1602-1666), a portrait painter in The Hague. Jan Mijtens was a nephew of these brothers and father of the portrait painter Daniel Mijtens II (1644-1688). Martin Mijtens I, himself a son of Isaac, moved to Sweden where he worked as a portrait painter in Stockholm, while his son Martin van Meytens II later became a portrait painter at the imperial court in Vienna. Several other minor members of the Mijtens family established reputations as painters.
