Martin van Wordragen - acrylic on canvas - figure with scarf, signed l.l.

Martin van Wordragen (Ammerzoden, February 9, 1928 – Veurne, August 23, 2011) was a Dutch painter and window dresser.

Early years
Martinus Wilhelmus van Wordragen was born in Ammerzoden and was the third child in a family of ten children. His interest in drawing and painting became apparent early on. The van Wordragen family had to leave the village of Ammerzoden in 1944 as a result of the Second World War and fled to Friesland. After the liberation, the family returned to their native village of Ammerzoden and Martin worked as a house painter as a young man and sometimes did decoration work. He followed a secondary education course with the local friars and then the teacher training course for drawing in 's-Hertogenbosch. Here he obtained the diploma of teacher of drawing and "window dresser-decorator" and then followed a course of "advertising assistant".
Early painting
In 1947 Van Wordragen made his first oil painting entitled “Milkmaid” which with its rural scene still looked classical and true to life. In honor of the inauguration of Queen Juliana, Van Wordragen was commissioned in 1948 to paint a portrait of the new queen several meters high. In 1954 Van Wordragen moved to Hasselt via a colleague. Although the cultural Flemish climate suited Van Wordragen better, he painted little until his marriage to Helena Goesten in June 1958.