Simon Pietersz Verelst (1644–1721?) 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 is known for outstanding flower and fruit still life paintings.

Biography

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 ...

. He was the son of Pieter Harmensz Verelst and became a pupil in the

Confrerie Pictura The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague (the Netherlands) by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke there. History The guild of St. Luke in the Hague existed a ...

at the same time as his brother

Herman Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Min ...

in 1663.Simon Pietersz Verelst
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

In 1668 he moved to London and on 11 April 1669 he met with

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

. His elegant portraits became popular for a time during the 1670s among court circles. He painted this portrait of

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

, son of Frederick V, Count Palatine and Elizabeth Stuart. It seems Verelst began to suffer from bouts of insanity, which was reflected in a portrait with flowers on a gigantic scale, who called himself "''the God of Flowers''". In 1709, according to

Weyerman Jacob Campo Weyerman (9 August 1677 – 9 March 1747) was a painter and writer during the period known as the Dutch Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment. His work encompassed flower and fruit still life paintings, satirical magazines, plays, and b ...

, he lived down the

Strand, London Strand (or the Strand) is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. It runs just over from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street in the City of London, and is part of the A4 ...

at the art dealer William Lovejoy, who had him locked up for his bouts of unbridled aggression.

Family tree

References

External links

Simon Pietersz Verelst
on

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

Simon Verelst
on PubHist {{DEFAULTSORT:Verelst, Simon Pietersz 1644 births 1710 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from The Hague Artists from The Hague Dutch still life painters Dutch portrait painters