Biography
Dutch-born painter Simon Pietersz Verelst was one of the most celebrated flower painters of his generation, admired for a brilliance that seemed to blur the boundary between art and nature. Yet behind his technical mastery, there's a story of ambition, pride, rivalry, migration, and ultimately decline.
His life moved from early promise within a tightly knit artistic family to meteoric success in Restoration London, before darkening into illness and isolation. His works were admired by figures such as Samuel Pepys and collected among the English elite, placing him firmly within the artistic and social circles of late 17th-century London.
From early on, he was formed within a family workshop. This environment likely instilled in him a strong sense of competition, particularly as his brothers were also painters. That tension would later surface sharply in London.
His move to England was, in part, driven by necessity. Financial pressures in The Hague, combined with the collapse of the local market, pushed him abroad. There, fortune turned quickly. His flower pieces were met with admiration bordering on wonder, and he rose rapidly in status and income. By the 1680s, he was painting for aristocratic patrons and moving within courtly circles.
Yet success seems to have unsettled him.
Jacob Campo Weyerman, writing with a mixture of admiration and moral caution, describes him as highly susceptible to praise:
“very glorious and quite hungry for praise, for if no one else praised him, he praised himself."
Encouraged by powerful patrons such as the Duke of Buckingham, Verelst was persuaded to attempt portraiture. The experiment was not entirely successful. His portraits, adorned with florid embellishments, provoked derision at court - yet paradoxically increased his notoriety.
From this point on, his personality appears to shift. Accounts, though often coloured by anecdote, consistently describe an inflated ego. He reportedly declared himself “the God of flowers,” and, in a moment both absurd and revealing, is said to have asked why he and the king should not converse “familiarly” since “he is king of England, I am king of painting.”
Another anecdote, attributed to Horace Walpole, captures his defiance when confronted by authority. When rebuked for failing to remove his hat before a high-ranking sitter, Verelst replied: “Do you know me? I am Varelst. The king can make any man chancellor, but he can make nobody a Varelst.”
These remarks, whether exact or embellished, reveal how he wished to be seen, not merely as a craftsman, but as an artist of singular, almost sovereign status.
Beneath this confidence lay instability, particularly within his own family. His brother John worked within his London studio, producing paintings that were sold under Simon’s name - a common workshop practice, but one that bred resentment. John appears to have developed independent ambition, attracting clients of his own.
The relationship deteriorated into open conflict. Simon accused John of overstepping; John accused Simon of suppressing him. The dispute culminated in legal action, with Simon suing for ownership of earlier works produced during their shared training. The court ruled in Simon’s favour. Reputation was currency, and Simon guarded his fiercely.
By the mid-1680s, signs of mental disturbance had begun to appear. Contemporary testimony describes episodes of erratic and violent behaviour. In one account, he attacked a relative with a sword; in another, he fled into the night in a state of distress, wandering barefoot in freezing conditions.
Weyerman later wrote:
“At last he went so dreadfully mad that the friends compelled him to lodge for a considerable time in a dark room… and although he has since come fairly to his senses, he has never been able to paint as before.”
This is perhaps the most poignant turning point in his life. The same sensitivity that allowed him to observe nature so acutely may have rendered him vulnerable to psychological strain - though this remains an inference.
His later years were marked by decline, both artistic and personal. Weyerman describes visiting him in London, “lodged, or rather chained in the galley,” under the care of an art dealer named Lovejoy.
Simon Verelst’s life resists simplicity. He was neither merely a gifted flower painter nor simply a tragic figure undone by madness. He was, rather, a man shaped by a demanding workshop system, propelled by ambition, elevated by circumstance, and ultimately undone by the same intensity that drove his success.
In his finest works, one senses extraordinary control: directed light, compositional mastery, nature perfected. In his life, by contrast, control seems gradually to slip away.
A reminder that behind even the most delicate painted petals, there may lie a far more fragile human story.
Known For
- Exquisitely rendered flower and fruit still lifes.
- Portraits often infused with floral motifs.
Student Of
His father, Pieter Hermansz. Verelst.
Lived In
- The Hague
- Voorburg
- London
- briefly Paris
Historical Context
Verselst worked during a period of shifting artistic economies. The Dutch art market, once dominant, suffered a severe contraction in the late 1660s, forcing many painters to seek opportunity abroad. London, under Charles II, became a receptive and ambitious centre, hungry for Continental talent. Verelst arrived at precisely this moment, as part of a broader Anglo-Dutch artistic migration, bringing with him not only skill but a workshop-trained efficiency suited to a growing commercial market.
Public Collections
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, National Galleries of Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, Petworth House, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Weston Park, Cleveland Museum of Art.
Timeline
1644
Baptised in The Hague.
1663
Active in The Hague; joins the Confrerie Pictura alongside his brother.
1663-1668
Works in Voorburg within the family workshop structure.
c.1667-1668
Moves to London amid financial difficulties in the Dutch Republic.
1669
Meets Samuel Pepys, who praises his flower painting in exceptional terms.
1670s
Establishes a successful London workshop; employs assistants, including his brother John.
1676-1677
Legal dispute with John Verelst over ownership of works; Simon wins the case.
1680
Travels to Paris briefly before returning to London.
1684
Marries Ann Pember; at this time among the highest-paid artists in London.
Mid-1680s
Onset of mental illness; erratic behaviour recorded.
1692
Gives evidence in a high-profile legal case; testimony questioned due to instability.
1690s
Artistic quality declines; workshop output continues under the broader “Verelst” name.
1700s
Lives in reduced circumstances, possibly dependent on dealer Lovejoy.
1710-1717
Probable period of death; exact date uncertain.
Described By Others
Jacob Campo Weyerman described him as:
“A painter in a thousand… whose flowers one must love as much for their glorious arrangement as for their charming lights and shadows.”
Yet the same writer records his fall with equal force, noting how “that great light… had been so disastrously obscured,” leaving behind only a diminished shadow of his former brilliance.
Samuel Pepys, encountering his work at its height, offers perhaps the most immediate response:
“The finest thing that ever… I saw in my life.”