John Verelst, born and known also as Johannes or Jan (29 October 1648 – 7 March 1734), was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...

painter. He was the youngest of three sons of the painter

Pieter Hermansz Verelst Pieter Harmensz Verelst (c. 1618, Dordrecht – c. 1678 in Dordrecht or Hulst) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Three of his sons, Simon, Herman, and Johannes Verelst, also became painters. Biography Pieter Verelst was a pupil of Gerard Dou and ...

; all became known as painters. He is known for his portraits, especially of the men known as the

Four Mohawk Kings The Four Indian Kings or Four Kings of the New World were three Mohawk chiefs from one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and a Mahican of the Algonquian peoples, whose portraits were painted by Jan Verelst in London to commemorate ...

, who visited Queen Anne in 1710 from the Province of New York in North America. (One of these men has since been identified correctly instead as a chief of the Mohican, a different tribe.)

Biography

Johannes Verelst was born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

as the youngest son of

, a painter, and his wife. His older brothers were Simon and Herman. All three of these sons became painters, studying with their father from when they were young. After becoming established, Johannes Verelst migrated to London in 1691, where he specialized in oil portraits and became known as John Verelst. Due to Simon using a slanting "S" in his signatures, flower still lifes in the manner of Simon Verelst are sometimes attributed to Johannes, while some of Johannes' portraits are attributed to Simon.Johannes Verelst
'' RKD''

Mohawk Kings

To seal a treaty with the British, four Indigenous delegates (called "Indian kings" by the British)--three Haudenosaunee and one Anishinaabe--visited

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1710. Queen Anne was so impressed by these tall, muscular foreign visitors that she had Verelst paint oilcolors of them in 1710 (see

). This was one of the first paintings of aboriginal people. The chiefs had come voluntarily and were well treated as diplomats and entertained. They were ''Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row'' (Hendriks), Emperor of the Six Nations; ''Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row'' (John), King of Generethgarich; ''Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow'' (Brant) of the Maquas; he was the grandfather of

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk people, Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York (state), New York, who was closely associated with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great B ...

, a chief during the Revolutionary War and namesake for

Brantford, Ontario Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

; and ''Etow Oh Koam'' (Nicholas), King of the River Nation. They had been persuaded to come to England by

Peter Schuyler Pieter Schuyler (17 September 1657 – 19 February 1724) was the first mayor of Albany, New York. A long-serving member of the executive council of the Province of New York, he acted as governor of the Province of New York on three occasions ...

, acting

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

in 1709 and some-time mayor of Albany. They stayed one month and returned without having contracted any of the endemic European diseases. The four portraits were later transformed into mezzotint prints by artists, including Anglo-French printmaker John Simon (1675–1751), and sold widely. The four portraits of these First Nations chiefs were displayed at

Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...

until 1977, when Queen Elizabeth gave them to the

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

. They were featured on a Canadian postage stamp in 2010.Canada Post, ''details/en détail'', vol. 19, no. 2 (April–June 2010), pp. 10-11.

Family tree

References

External links

See also Richmond P. Bond, ''Queen Anne's American Kings'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952). Laura Brandon,
War Art in Canada: A Critical History
' (Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2021). {{DEFAULTSORT:Verelst, John 1648 births 1734 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Artists from The Hague