Both the birthplace and date of birth of Caspar Netscher are uncertain, but it is known that he was born sometime between 1635 and 1639 in either Heidelberg or Prague. What is certain, however, is that he trained under Gerard Terborch in Deventer and went on to spend most of his early career in The Hague, where he settled in 1661. From his master, Terborch, he took his predilection for depicting costly materials - particularly white satin.

He painted genre scenes and some religious and mythological subjects, but from about 1670 he devoted himself almost exclusively to portraits, often of members of the Court circles in The Hague. His reputation was such that King Charles II invited him to England.

His work, elegant, frenchified, small in scale, and exquisitely finished, influenced Dutch portraiture into the eighteenth century. His followers included his sons Constantijn (1688-1723) and Theodoor (1661-1732).


Museums where examples of the artist's work can be found include:

Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum), Cassel, Florence (Uffizi), Geneva, The Hague (Mauritshuis), London (Wallace Collection), Lyon, Munich, New York (Metropolitan) and Paris (Louvre).