Dutch painter, who produced mostly portraits, genre scenes, and still-lifes. Not much biographical information is available on the life of the artist but his movement throughout The Netherlands in the 17th century is marked by his membership in various guilds, beginning in Delft in 1628 at the age of eighteen. He later joined The Hague in 1637, where he likely remained until 1657-58, but for a brief stay in Dordrecht in 1640. From The Hague, van der Merck joined the Leiden guild in 1658 where he would remain until his death in 1664. //