Pieter Verelst(Dordrecht 1616/18 – ca. 1678 Hulst?)

How to citeBakker, Piet. “Pieter Verelst” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. andLara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived December 2023).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed bya permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

Pieter Verelst was born in Dordrecht in 1616 or 1618. His parents were Herman Verelst and his second wife MariekeBackx, the daughter of a cloth merchant.[1] Some confusion surrounds Herman’s occupation. In 1630 (around twelve years
after Pieter’s birth), Herman joined the painters’ guild, but “in den 2den eed” (in the 2nd oath), which implies that he hadsworn a first oath at another (unknown) guild.[2] For the time being we are groping in the dark about Herman Verelst’s
primary profession, as well as his reasons for joining the Guild of Saint Luke.
Pieter probably grew up in comfortable circumstances. He lived in the Voorstraat, close to the Vismarkt, at which address
his father was taxed for a capital of 4,000 guilders in 1626.[3] A certain prosperity is also evident in the sale of Groenewolt,
a house that was part of his parents’ estate, which Pieter and his siblings sold for a substantial 2,500 guilders in 1639.[4]This house, also on the Voorstraat but on the opposite side of the Vismarkt, had belonged to the family of Pieter’s mother.
Marieke Backx was living there when she married Pieter’s father in 1612.[5]It is unknown who taught Verelst to paint. His oeuvre, consisting of portraits, tronies, genre and history scenes, and a few
still lifes of fruit and game, displays a variety of artistic influences. His scenes of inns and of peasants recall the work ofIsaac (1621–49) and Adriaen van Ostade (1610–85) of Haarlem, and Cornelis Saftleven (1607–81) and Hendrick Sorgh(1610–70) of Rotterdam. His eclectic style is also manifest in his history paintings, which suggest familiarity with thework of painters from the Rembrandt School, particularly that of Govaert Flinck (1615–60), Jan Victors (1619–1676), andSalomon Koninck (1609–56). The influence of the “Leiden” Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), and of Jan Lievens(1607–73) and Gerrit Dou (1613–75) is also apparent. All three have been thought to be the maker of the fine Return ofTobias and the Angel, which, however, was recently convincingly attributed to Verelst.[vi] An affinity with Rembrandt,Lievens, and Dou is also evident in a few works by Verelst’s fellow-townsman Paulus Lesire (1612–ca. 1655).[7] Lesire’sPenitent Saint Peter displays so many compositional and stylistic similarities with Verelst’s Saint Paul and his Scholar atWork that they almost seem to have come from the same workshop.[8] While the two artists surely knew one another, there
is no evidence that Verelst studied under Lesire, or of an apprenticeship with Lesire’s putative master Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter Verelst
Page 2 of 5(1594–1652). This notwithstanding, Cuyp—the leading Dordrecht painter at the time—is the most likely candidate.
In Dordrecht on 11 June 1638 Verelst became engaged to Adriana van Gesel, whose father was the cooper Simon vanGesel, who sat on the town council in 1608.[9] The next day Verelst registered with the Guild of Saint Luke as “noch jonckgesel sijnde” (still unmarried), which, strictly speaking, was true, for the couple wed on 3 August. He also took on a pupil
in that year.[10] His daughter Maria was born in May 1639. Verelst is generally assumed to have left a few years later forThe Hague, where around 1643 he was living in the neighborhood of Jan van Goyen. Before settling in The Hague
definitively, he seems to have stayed regularly in Rotterdam. His son Herman (1641–1702), who became a still-life
painter, was baptized there on 5 December 1640.[11] The only two portraits with identified sitters also indicate a sojourn inRotterdam. Agatha van Hartigsvelt (1627–97) and Elizabeth Kievit (d. 1700), both of whom sat for Verelst in 1642, camefrom leading Rotterdam regent families.[12]Verelst only officially left Dordrecht on 20 March 1644. Mention is made in a document bearing this date that he wassettling in The Hague, of which he became a citizen on 10 July.[13] At a sale of paintings held there in 1674 he sold 81
works, most of them by his hand, for prices varying from ten stuivers to ten guilders.[14] Moreover, the four Verelst
pictures that Jan van Goyen sold on this occasion fetched only a few guilders each.[15] Seen in this light, Verelst seems tohave been active primarily in the lower range of the market. Yet in 1657 he painted “a picture of a few people smokingand drinking . . . which he priced at 50 guilders” for the Hague Guild Chamber.[16]Earlier, in 1656, he had been one of the founders of the painters’ confraternity Pictura, the painters’ confraternity, and he
was elected its dean in 1659 and 1660. Before that, on 30 September 1657, he married Elisabeth Scholts, about whom noother information is known. She died not long thereafter, possibly already in 1659, shortly after drawing up her will.
Verelst still paid his contribution to the Confrerie on 30 January 1662 and he may have served as its dean again in 1665. In
1667 he visited Amsterdam to witness his son Herman’s marriage to Cecilia Fendt (b. ca. 1642) of Venice.[17] He may nothave been doing well at that time. In fact, his financial problems became so acute that he beat a hasty retreat from TheHague, leaving his property behind to his creditors, which fetched 410 guilders at auction. Little is known about hissubsequent movements. The next record dates from 1671, at which time he was in Hulst in Brabant.[18] He seems to havegiven up painting in the meantime, and was training to be a brewer, a trade he practiced in Hulst until 1678. Nothing more
about him is heard after that year, and whether he died there is unknown.

- Piet Bakker, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter Verelst
Page 3 of 5Endnotes
1. On 2 March 1610 Herman Verelst married Marieke van Bernagie, who died soon thereafter. In 1612 hemarried Marieke Backx, whose father was the silk merchant Jacques Backx. Between 1611 and 1624
Herman fathered a total of six children with these two women. Only three of them are recorded with aname in the baptism register: Jacques (1614) who later became a silk merchant like his grandfather,Adriaan (1621), and Anneke (1624). One of the three nameless children registered in April 1611, June
1616, and November 1618 must thus be Pieter. The year 1611 can be eliminated, because in theprotocol of a few official documents he is always mentioned after his brother Jacques, indicating that hewas younger. Whether he was born in 1616 or 1618 cannot be determined. The most suitable year ofbirth is 1616. There are two extant signed and dated paintings by him from 1633. Should he have beenborn in 1618 he would have been only fifteen years old when he signed them. A date of birth of 1616 isthus more probable, even if seventeen is also very young for an artist to produce independent paintings.
Moreover, 1616 corresponds better with the date of his marriage: 3 August 1638. Should he have beenborn in 1618, he would have married as a nineteen-year old. This would have been young, althoughmarriages were not infrequently entered into at a young age. It cannot be definitely excluded that he wasborn in 1618. Unless otherwise noted, all biographical information on Pieter Verelst is taken from G.H.
Veth, “Aanteekeningen omtrent eenige Dordrechtsche schilders, XXXIX Pieter Hermansz. Verelst en
zijne zonen,” Oud Holland 14 (1896): 99–112.
2. On 2 December 1630 “Herme Janse Verelst’” entered “in’t schildersgilt” (the painters’ guild). F.D.O.
Obreen, Archief voor Nederlandsche Kunstgeschiedenis (Rotterdam 1877) 1: 207.
3. Gemeentearchief Dordrecht, Stadsarchief III, Register van de 1000ste Penning, inv. 3975, fol. 106v.
4. The name and location of the house is given in the deed of sale. Gemeentearchief Dordrecht, Archiefvan de Weeskamer, Stukken betreffende boedelinventarissen en scheidingen, rekeningen entestamenten, inv. 1185.
5. Gemeentearchief Dordrecht, Ondertrouwregisters, 2 September 1612.
6. Fred G. Meijer, “A New Attribution Proposed for an Enigmatic Painting: The Return of Tobias and theAngel by Pieter Verelst,” in Rembrandt 2006: Essays, ed. Michiel Roscam Abbing (Leiden, 2006),
96–101.
7. See the biography of Paulus Lesire in this catalogue.
8. For Lesire’s Penitent Saint Peter, see Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 3, B. Keil– J. Ovens (Landau, 1983), 3: 1715, no. 1148, and 1729. For Verelst’s Saint Paul and Scholar at Work,see Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 5, Nachträge, Ortsregister, IkonographischesRegister, Bibliographie (Landau, 1994), 5: 3117, nos. 2169–70.
9. Matthys Balen, Beschryvinge der stad Dordrecht, (Dordrecht, 1677), 1: 330.
10. Gemeentearchief Dordrecht, Gildenarchief, inv. 890, Het boek van knechts en jongens, fol. 4v. The© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter Verelst
Page 4 of 5

pupil’s name was W. Van Nispe. This is the only time that Van Nispe’s name appears in the records;
nothing is known about him.
11. See Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Doop-, trouw- en begraafregisters. This baptism certificate was not noticed
previously.
12. Portrait of Agatha van Hartigsvelt (1627–1697), 1642 (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon); Portrait of aYoung Woman, Probably Elizabeth Kievit gez.? Bisschop, 1642 (Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency,Amsterdam); E.A. Engelbrecht, De Vroedschap van Rotterdam 1572–1795 (Rotterdam, 1973), passim.
13. Gemeentearchief Dordrecht, Archief Hervormde Gemeente, Uitgegane attestaties. G.H. Veth,“Aanteekeningen omtrent eenige Dordrechtsche schilders, XXXIX Pieter Hermansz. Verelst en zijnezonen,” Oud Holland 14 (1896): 101.
14. The entire proceeds amounted to 286 guilders and 4 stuivers. Abraham Bredius, Künstler-Inventare:
Urkunden zur Geschichte der holländischen Kunst des XVIten, XVIIten und XVIIIten Jahrhunderts (TheHague, 1915), 1: 456–520.
15. Verelst himself buys from Van Goyen two original works by Van Beijeren and Lievens, the former for
36 guilders and the latter for an unknown amount.
16. “Een stuckie schilderije inhoudende eenige Tabak drinkers (…) bij hem geset op 50 gulden.” G.H.
Veth, “Aanteekeningen omtrent eenige Dordrechtsche schilders, XXXIX Pieter Hermansz. Verelst enzijne zonen,” Oud Holland 14 (1896): 103.
17. Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Doop-, trouw- en begraafregisters, 491/122.
18. Hans Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenen Künstler (Leipzig, 1940), 34: 237.

Literature
Balen, Matthijs. Beschryvinge der stad Dordrecht. Dordrecht, 1677.
Obreen, F.D.O. Archief voor Nederlandsche Kunstgeschiedenis. 7 vols. Rotterdam 1877–78.
Veth, G.H. “Aanteekeningen omtrent eenige Dordrechtsche schilders, XXXIX Pieter Hermansz. Verelst
en zijne zonen.” Oud-Holland 14 (1896): 99–112.
Bredius, Abraham. Künstler-Inventare: Urkunden zur Geschichte der holländischen Kunst des XVIten,
XVIIten und XVIIIten Jahrhunderts. 8 vols. The Hague, 1915–22.
Vollmer, Hans. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenen Künstler. Leipzig, 1940, 34: 237.
Engelbrecht, E.A. De Vroedschap van Rotterdam 1572–1795. Rotterdam, 1973.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. 6 vols. Landau, 1983–94.
Meijer, F.G. “A New Attribution Proposed for an Enigmatic Painting: The Return of Tobias and theAngel by Pieter Verelst.” In Rembrandt 2006: Essays. Edited by Michiel Roscam Abbing, 96–101.
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Pieter Verelst
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