Simon pietersz verelst biography template download

Roses, poppies, sunflowers, tulips, peonies and other flowers in a glass vase on a stone ledge.

The two significant early biographies were based on the knowledge of artists who had met one or more of the family.

Oil on canvas, x cm In or he travelled to London, where he established a reputation as a brilliant flower painter. He painted portraits, too, and was honoured by different writers of the time. Verelst was extremely popular with the English aristocracy. King George II possessed no less than six flower pieces and three portraits by Verelst.

The painter was honoured in Holland, too, during his lifetime. In , Gerard de Lairesse considered him the best flower painter ever, while Jacob Campo Weyerman also recorded his admiration for Verelst. In he went to Paris, where he worked for Louis Michiel. Verelst primarily painted flower pieces, but also produced some still-lifes with fruit and birds, and a number of portraits.

Simon Verelst was a famous painter of flower-pieces - those ornamental confections of flowers that would never bloom simultaneously in nature.

He generally did not sign or date his works. His flower bouquets are usually quite open and loosely arranged, with plenty of space between the stems and flowers. They are usually also asymmetrical, with a diagonal central axis, and reveal a certain degree of tonality. Notable is the almost complete absence of insects and other small creatures, except for the occasional presence of butterflies, which can also be seen in the present work.

In leaves and other areas Verelst generally used a bright green varnish, applied on top of a yellow-grey base layer — the fragility of this upper glaze meant that they were injudiciously removed during later restorations more often than not. The present painting is the largest work known by Verelst, truly monumental in scale and doubtlessly made for a highly important client.