Oil on canvas 31 1/2 x 25 5/8 ins
Purchased 1961
Mommers was first a pupil of Nicholas Ber-chem in Haarlem and had as a fellow pupil Karel du Jardin. As Berchem only became a master in the Haarlem Guild in 1642 and is recorded to have been in Rome by the winter of 1642-3, it is probable that his pupils accompanied him, for Mommers is recorded as probably being in Rome before 1647. While in

Rome Mommers joined the Schildersbent, a local guild for Dutch painters, which had been founded in 1623. It was the practice with new members for a mock priest to baptise them with wine and give them a nickname. Mommers was given the name of Meleager.

By 1647, he was back in Haarlem when he became a master in the Guild. About 1655 he moved to Amsterdam where he died in 1693.

Although his style is fairly close to du Jar-din, it has individual characteristics, particularly in the careful variations in texture which he employs.