Maria Verelst

Biography

Verelst was born in Vienna, but moved with her family to London at the age of three. Her father was the Dutch painter Harman Verelst, who taught her and her brothers Simon and Cornelis how to paint.^[1] She is known for miniatures and portraits as well as becoming a language teacher.^[2] She spoke many different languages such as Dutch and Latin.^[1]

According to the Dutch artist biographer Jacob Campo Weyerman, she overheard some Dutch men in a London theatre speaking about artists in their native language and she corrected them. The gentlemen excused themselves and continued speaking in Italian. She corrected them again, and they continued in Latin with the remark that they would not be interrupted in that language again. When she again spoke, it was to insist that women could not be barred from learning languages, despite the fact that they were not allowed to participate in public proceedings. The gentlemen were so impressed they inquired of her occupation and came to visit her the next day bearing gifts and to order their portraits made.^[3] She died in London in 1744.

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Career

Her earliest paintings have not survived. In the 1720s she worked with William Aikman and Charles Jervas but her style more closely reflected Thomas Hudson by the next decade. Landscape backgrounds and informal dress were her style of choice for the majority of her female subjects. Hayes notes that while her modeling is firm, her staging of drapery is simple.^[4]

It has been suggested that she also worked with Sir James Thornhill at Northaw Place round this same period of time.^[5] Murals have been preserved in England that have been attributed as a joint effort between the two painters.

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Misnaming as Maria Verelst

There is no archival evidence for a "Maria Verelst", neither is there any contemporary documentary evidence for the life of Maria Verelst, often described by later authors as the daughter of Herman Verelst.^[6] There is a relative abundance of contemporary evidence for Herman Verelst's daughter, Adriana Verelst (c1683-1769). There is contemporary evidence for birth, marriage, career (including signed receipts) and death but she is not included in later art histories. It has been argued that "Maria Verelst" is a misnaming of Adriana Verelst caused by later art dictionary editors expanding abbreviated forms of her name given by authors from Weyerman^[3] onwards ("N Verelst", "Mlle Verelst", "M. Verelst") into a fuller form of the name while perpetuating inaccurate details of her biography.^[7]^{: pp 181, 188–189}

Selected works

Anne Blackett, Mrs John Trenchard afterwards Mrs Thomas Gordon, c. 1723 (Wikimedia)
Duke of Chandos in the dressing room^[8]
Marriage portrait of Penelope Smith holding a lamb, c. 1727 (Wikimedia)
Nature morte aux huitres et aux crabs^[8]
Portrait at Mellerstain of Grisell, Lady Murray, 1725 (Wikimedia)
Portrait of Duchess of Marlboro with Lady Diana Spencer, c. 1722 (Wikimedia)
Portrait of Duke of Marlborough^[8]
Portrait of Henrietta, Lady Luxborough, Lydiard Park, Swindon (Wikimedia)
Portrait of a lady, half-length, in a silver white gown^[8]
Portrait of a lady in a yellow dress seated, with a wooded landscape beyond^[8]
Portrait of a Lady with a Country Estate in the Distance^[8]
Portrait of a woman, Lady Middleton^[8]
Portrait of Elizabeth Johnson, wife of Samuel Johnson, c. 1735 (Wikimedia)
Portrait of Jane Stebbing, wife of Thomas Aynscombe, 1706 (possibly painted by John Verelst) (Wikimedia)
Portrait of Lady Smythe, three-quarter-length^[8]