Simon Pietersz Verelst

Simon Pietersz Verelst
Born
The Hague
Baptised21 September 1644
Diedc. 1710-1717
London
Occupationsflower and portrait painter
Years activec. 1685-c. 1717
SpouseAnn Verelst (née Pember)
Parents
Relatives
Flower Still-Life
Flower still life
ArtistSimon Verelst
Yearc. 1660-1700
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions80.0 cm × 66.0 cm (31.5 in × 26.0 in)
LocationPrivate collection
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Count Palatine, Duke of Cumberland (1619-1682)
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
ArtistSimon Verelst
Yearc. 1680-1682
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions126.0 cm × 102.0 cm (49.6 in × 40.2 in)
LocationPetworth House and Park (National Trust), Petworth
AccessionNT 486254
Websitehttps://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/486254

Simon Pietersz Verelst (1644–c. 1710-1717) was an Anglo-Dutch painter. He is known for outstanding flower and fruit still life paintings.

Biography

Simon Pietersz Verelst was the fourth child of Pieter Hermansz Verelst and his first wife, Adriana van Gesel.[a] He was baptised at The Hague on 21 September 1644.[2]: p. 101 

The art market in the Low Countries collapsed in the late 1660s. Simon found himself in extremely difficult financial circumstances and moved from The Hague to London perhaps by 1667. His father and now widower, Pieter, travelled to London with most of his children in 1668, dying in England in autumn 1668, perhaps leaving Simon with responsibility for the family. Samuel Pepys recorded a meeting on 11 April 1669 with “a Dutchman, newly come over, one Evarelst”. The artist showed him a flower piece which Pepys described as “the finest thing that ever, I think, I saw in my life; the drops of dew hanging on the leaves, so as I was forced, again and again, to put my finger to it, to feel whether my eyes were deceived or no.”[1]: pp 176–178 [3]

Verelst married Ann Pember at St Marylebone Parish Church, London, on 2 December 1684.[4]: p. 123 

By about 1686, Verelst was displaying symptoms of mental illness. Verelst and his wife were called as witnesses in a 1692 attempt by private bill in the House of Lords by Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, to divorce the Duchess, Mary Morduant. Verelst’s statement was read to the House but his wife’s testimony was not heard due to her apparent unreliability as a witness. The Duchess’s defence produced John Rothmell (married to Verelst’s half-sister[b]) as a witness to undermine Verelst’s evidence. Rothmell described an incident in about 1686 in which Verelst had attacked him with a sword saying that Rothmell “had disparag’d him by Marrying his Sister, and said, he would be his Death, and drew his Sword, and Commanded him to strip, that he might slash him at his pleasure”. Verelst “struck the Witness [Rothmell] above a dozen times with his Sword, and threatned still to have his Life, if he, the Witness did not fetch his Wife [who had recently given birth] down that Night, ... to bring her to be Whipt, and to bring Six Rods with him”. Rothmell also described an earlier incident when Verelst had “been Distracted for Six Weeks”, treated by a doctor and had, one cold night, “got from the Woman that watch’d him, and run about two hours in his Shirt and Wascoat [sic], in a Frosty Night, and cut his Feet, and was brought home by the Watch”.[7]: pp 30–32 [8]: pp 883–927 [9]: pp 17–27 

Jacob Campo Weyerman spent time in London between 1704 and 1720 and knew Simon Verelst.[10] Weyerman knew of Simon’s illness: “At last he went so dreadfully mad that the friends compelled him to lodge for a considerable time in a dark room furnished with fresh straw, and although he has since quite come to his senses, he has never been able to paint as before.”[c] Weyerman speaks of Verelst later being ‘nailed to the galley’, by a London art dealer, named Lovejoy.[d] This seems to be how he spent his last years, producing work of a quality inferior to his best.

The date of Verelst’s death is uncertain. There is no clear archival record of Simon Verelst’s death. Paul Taylor has suggested, using evidence from George Vertue's notebooks, that the latest date could be 1717 with a possible earlier date from 1710.[11] Entries are given in St Martin in the Fields’ burial register for ‘Symon Evret’ on 6 December 1713 and for ‘Simon Everet’ on 14 February 1720.[12][13][e]

Weyerman included a number of anecdotes about Verelst’s behaviour having, as their starting point, the artist’s arrogance and conceit. Verelst was encouraged by the Duke of Buckingham to undertake portraits. The resulting works were full of flowers and greeted with derision at court, including by King Charles II although, Weyerman notes, Verelst’s portraits came to be admired. Weyerman also includes the story of Verelst varnishing his hat and shoes and demanding an audience with the king.[10]: pp 250–252 [f]

Horace Walpole added to or embellished Weyerman’s anecdotes. Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury sat for Verelst who did not show proper respect for the dignitary by removing his hat. Shaftesbury was offended. Verelst responded by asking “Do you know me? I am Varelst. The king can make any man chancellor, but he can make nobody a Varelst.” Shaftesbury sat to Greenhill.[16]: p. 33  Verelst called himself “God of Flowers”. He went to Whitehall in the hope of speaking to the King. His wish having been refused, he countered with: “He is king of England, I am king of painting, why should not we converse together familiarly?”[16]: p. 34  Toward the end of his life, Verelst showed visitors a piece that he claimed to have been working on for twenty years, which included the styles of Raphael, Titian, Rubens and Van Dyck.[16]: p. 34 

Artistic career

Simon Verelst received his early training in The Hague from his father, Pieter Verelst alongside his brothers Herman Verelst and John Verelst (1648-1679). Much of their time was spent in producing flower and fruit pieces of pasteboard and paper and a collection of these works became partly the subject of a later dispute between Simon and John.[1]: pp 177–178  Simon became a member of the Confrerie Pictura of The Hague in 1663, at the same time as his brother Herman. Pieter had been the Dean of the Confrerie in 1659-1660.[2]: pp 107–108 

Simon’s extremely difficult financial circumstances forced him to move from The Hague to London perhaps by 1667. Samuel Pepys’s praise of one of Verelst’s flower pieces was shared with the London art world and soon he was much in demand for flower and fruit pieces. During the early 1670s, Simon Verelst was running a workshop with assistants, one of whom was his brother John who worked for or with Simon on producing pieces bearing Simon’s name, agreeing to produce no work under his own name or for others.   The arrangement turned sour. Simon saw John as a competitor; John saw Simon as attempting to suppress his reputation. John claimed that Simon finished the working relationship, threatening to have him imprisoned or forced to leave England. In Easter term 1676, Simon sued John for the value of the collection of training pieces (which had been abandoned in Amsterdam several years earlier). The court awarded £500 and costs to Simon in 1677. John lived for less than two years and disappeared into obscurity while Simon’s reputation prospered. [g]

Weyerman wrote at length about the qualities of Simon’s still-lifes and Sam Segal and Paul Taylor both analysed his earlier flower pieces.[10]: pp 248–250 [18]: pages 454–462 [19] As late as 1692, Marshall Smith praised his work: "Mr. Simon Verelst Paints Flowers estream fine, beyond any in former or present Age, for neatness".[20]: p. 25 

Paul Talyor describes Verelst as having “great financial (but middling artistic) success” in portrait painting: he was said to be the highest paid artist in London at the time of mis marriage in 1684. Many of his subjects moved in court circles: Charles II, James II, Mary of Modena, the Duke of Buckingham, the Duchess of Norfolk, the Duchess of Portsmouth and Nell Gwyn.[11]

After his period of mental turmoil, Verelst’s paintings became less impressive.[11] Some 325 paintings by the Verelsts are listed in the collection of sales catalogues from 1689-1699 held by the British Library.[h] 79% of these paintings are listed as by “Verelst” while the others are attributed to individual: William (10%); Simon (8%); Herman (2%); John (1%). There is debate about how such large numbers of paintings were produced at relatively low cost for auctions. Peter Hancox argued that the Verelsts worked together to produce lower-valued work in large number under the name of "Verelst" while also producing higher-quality work under their own names.[1]: pp 187, 192 [21]: pp 30–36  Certainly there is evidence that at least one of Simon’s brothers was able to talk to other artists about Simon’s technique as late as 1697.[22]: p. 154 

Very little, if any, of the works of Verelst’s last years are identifiable. Arguably, after death of Herman Verelst in 1699 and of William Verelst in 1702, Simon was adrift without support. According to Weyerman, he worked for Lovejoy in The Strand but when this started and finished is unknown.[10]: p. 250 

Selected works

  • A vase of flowers, c. 1669–1675, oil on canvas, 44 cm × 32 cm. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, inv. WA1940.2.87.[23]
  • A vase of flowers, c. 1690–1710, oil on canvas, 106.6  cm × 88.8 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, inv. PD.48-1966.[24]
  • Flowers in a vase, c. 1669, oil on wood, 26.4 cm × 22.6 cm (unframed), signed (S.V.). Cleveland, Ohio, The Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. 1982.246.[25]
  • Mary of Modena, c. 1680, oil on canvas, 125.7 cm × 102.7 cm, signed (centre left: "S, VE. J~[monogram]"). New Haven, Connecticut, Yale Center for British Art, inv. B1979.19.[26]
  • Nell Gwyn, c. 1670, oil on canvas, 93.5 cm × 74.8 cm. London, National Portrait Gallery, inv. NPG L248.[27]
  • Nell Gwyn, c. 1680, oil on canvas, 73.7 cm × 63.2 cm, signed and dated. Place, Gallery, inv. NPG 249.[28]
  • Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Count Palatine, Duke of Cumberland (1619–1682), c. 1680–1682, oil on canvas, 126.0 cm × 102.0 cm. Petworth, Petworth House and Park (National Trust), inv. NT 486254.[29]
  • Louise de Kérouaille (1649–1734), Duchess of Portsmouth, c. 1670–1680, oil on canvas, 44.5 cm × 52.1 cm. Shifnall, Weston Park, inv. 101.0019.[30]

Prints

  • Isaac Beckett, after Simon Verelst, Madam Ellen Gwinn, c. 1680-1688, mezzotint, 12.0 cm × 95.0 cm. London, British Museum, inv. P,6.210.[31]
  • Isaac Beckett, after Simon Verelst, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, c. 1681-1688, mezzotint, 36.5 cm × 26.6 cm. London, National Portrait Gallery, inv. NPG D1130.[32]
  • Bernard Lens after Simon Verelst, Vaas met bloemen en een vlinder, c. 1682-1725, mezzotint on paper, 34.5 cm × 24.8 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-P-1904-1287.[33]
  • Robert Robinson after Simon Verelst, Flowers in a glass vase with fruit and butterflies, 1682, mezzotint on paper, 23.0 cm × 16.7 cm (sheet). New Haven, Connecticut, Yale Center for British Art, inv. B1970.3.1123.[34]
  • Peter Vanderbank, after Simon Verelst, Charlotte Lee (née Fitzroy), Countess of Lichfield, c. 1675-1700, line engraving, 37.2 cm × 27.3 cm. London, National Portrait Gallery, inv. NPG D31002.[35]

Notes

  1. ^ A full family tree is given by Peter Hancox.[1]: pp 191–192. 
  2. ^ Verelst’s half-sister was Hannah Verelst, elder child of Pieter Verelst and his second wife, Elisabeth Schölts. Her year of birth can be calculated as 1658 (between her parents' wedding and the birth of her younger sister and before her mother’s death as suggested by G.H. Veth).[2]: pp 103–104  She would have been ten when Pieter Verelst brought the family to London in 1668. Hannah married John Rothmell, a tailor, at Holy Trinity, Minories, London, on 6 July 1679.[5] The couple had several children of which the last recorded, Catharine, was born on 10 January 1695.[6]
  3. ^ ”Eindelijk wiert hy zo vreeslijk gek, dat de vrienden genootzaakt waaren hem een geruime tyd te logeeren in een duyster vertrek voorzien met versch stroo, en alhoewel hij t'zedert tamelyk by zijn verstant is gekomen, echter heeft hij nooit als van te vooren konnen schilderen.”[10]: p. 251 
  4. ^ “... of liever op de galey vastgeklonken, by een Londensche Konstkooper, genaamt Lovejoy.”[10]: p. 250 
  5. ^ Simon’s wife, Ann, was probably the Anne Varels buried at St Martin in the Fields on 14 September 1713.[14]
  6. ^ Paul Taylor notes that his story was taken by Weyerman from Mander's life of Joos van Cleef.[11][15]: fol. 226r&v 
  7. ^ Verelst was probably a teacher of Louis Michiel (active c. 1665-after 1681).[17]
  8. ^ Some caution is required in analysing these sales. While there are 325 lots listed, these may include paintings not sold and held over to a later auction and paintings that are bought and later resold.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Hancox, Peter (2024). "The multigenerational and cross-national artist family Verelst (c. 1618–1752): The myth of Cornelius and Maria". Oud Holland. 137 (4): 174–200. doi:10.1163/18750176-13704003.
  2. ^ a b c Veth, G.H (1896). "Aanteekeningen omtrent eenige Dordrechtsche schilders, XXXIX Pieter Hermansz. Verelst en zijne zonen". Oud-Holland. 14: 99–112.
  3. ^ Pepys, Samuel. "Pepys' Diary: Sunday 11 April 1669". The diary of Samuel Pepys: daily entries from the 17th century London diary. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  4. ^ Bannerman, W. Bruce, ed. (1917). The registers of marriage of St Mary le Bone, Middlesex, 1668-1754 and of Orford Chapel, Vere Street, St Mary le Bone, 1736-1754: part 1. Publications of the Harleian Society; Register Series: 47. London: Harleian Society.
  5. ^ Marriage of John Rothmell and Hannah Verelst. City of London: London Metropolitan Archives, Holy Trinity, Minories, City of London, marriage register ref: P69/Tri2/A/007/Ms09242b. 6 July 1679.
  6. ^ Baptism of Catharine Rothmell. London Metropolitan Archives, St Martin in the Fields, London, register, ref STM/PR/8/8. 20 January 1695.
  7. ^ A true account of the proceedings before the House of Lords (from Jan. 7. 1691. to Feb. 17. following) between the Duke and Dutchess of Norfolk: upon the Duke's bill, entituled, An act to dissolve the marriage, &c. occasioned by two libellous pamphlets lately published, and dispersed under the same pretence and title. London: sine nomine. 1683.
  8. ^ Howell, T.B (1816). A complete collection of state trials: and proceedings for high treason and other crimes and misdemeanors ...: with notes and other illustrations. Vol. 12 (5th ed.). London: T.C. Hansard.
  9. ^ The manuscripts of the House of Lords, 1692-1693. London: HMSO. 1894.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Weyerman, Jacob Campo (1729). "Simon Verelst". De levens-beschryvingen der Nederlandsche konst-schilders en konst-schilderessen: met een uytbreyding over de schilder-konst der ouden. Vol. 3. The Hague: By de wed. E. Boucquet. pp. 248–252.
  11. ^ a b c d Taylor, Paul (3 January 2008) [2004]. "Verelst, Simon Pieterszoon (bap. 1644, d. 1710x17)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  12. ^ Burial of Symon Evret. London Metropolitan Archives, St Martin in the Fields, London, register, ref STM/PR/1/10. 6 December 1713.
  13. ^ Burial of Simon Everet. London Metropolitan Archives, St Martin in the Fields, London, register, ref STM/PR/1/11. 14 February 1720.
  14. ^ Burial of Anne Varels. London Metropolitan Archives, St Martin in the Fields, London, register, ref STM/PR/1/10. 14 September 1713.
  15. ^ Mander, Carel van (1604). Het schilder-boeck, waerin voor eerst de leerlustighe iueght den grondt der edel vry schilderconst in verscheyden deelen wort voorghedraghen. Daer nae in dry deelen t'leuen der vermaerde doorluchtighe schilders des ouden, en nieuwen tyds. Eyntlyck d'wtlegghinghe op den Metamorphoseon Pub. Ouidij Nasonis. Oock daerbeneffens wtbeeldinghe der figueren. Alles dienstich en nut den schilders, constbeminders en dichters, oock allen staten van menschen. Tot Haerlem: Voor Paschier van Wesbusch boeckvercooper.
  16. ^ a b c Walpole, Horace (1762). Anecdotes of painting in England: with some account of the principal artist; and incidental notes on other arts; collected by the late Mr. George Vertue; and now digested and published from his original MSS. Vol. 3. Strawberry-Hill: sine nomine.
  17. ^ Meijer, Fred G. (1997). "Louis Michiel (active c. 1665-after 1681), a little-known painter of flowers, fruit and game pieces". Oud Holland. 111 (4): 241–252.
  18. ^ Segal, Sam; Alen, Klara (2020). Dutch and Flemish flower pieces: Paintings, drawing and prints up to the nineteenth century. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill.
  19. ^ Taylor, Paul. Dutch flower painting, 1600-1720. New Haven: Yale University.
  20. ^ Smith, M. (1692). The art of painting according to the theory and practise of the best Italian, French, and Germane masters: treating of the antiquity of painting, the reputation it allways had, the characters of severall masters ... London: sine nomine.
  21. ^ Karst, Sander (2013). "Off to a new Cockaigne: Dutch migrant artists in London, 1660-1715". Simiolus. 37 (1): 25–60.
  22. ^ Talley, M. Kirby (1983). "'Small, usuall, and vulgar things': still-life painting in England, 1635-1760". The Volume of the Walpole Society. 49: 133–223.
  23. ^ "'A vase of flowers". Oxford: Ashmolean Museum. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  24. ^ "Vase of flowers". Cambridge: The Fitzwilliam Museum. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  25. ^ "Flowers in a vase". Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  26. ^ "Mary of Modena". New Haven, Connecticut: Yale Center for British Art. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  27. ^ "'Nell Gwyn". London: National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  28. ^ "'Nell Gwyn". London: National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  29. ^ "Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Count Palatine, Duke of Cumberland (1619-1682)". London: National Trust. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  30. ^ "Louise de Kérouaille (1649–1734), Duchess of Portsmouth". ArtUK. Stoke-on-Trent: Art UK. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  31. ^ "Madam Ellen Gwinn". London: British Museum. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  32. ^ "George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham". London: National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  33. ^ "'Vaas met bloemen en een vlinder". Amsterdam. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  34. ^ "Flowers in a glass vase with fruit and butterflies". New Haven, Connecticut: Yale Center for British Art. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  35. ^ "Charlotte Lee (née Fitzroy), Countess of Lichfield". London: National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Simon Pietersz. Verelst.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.