Simon_Verelst_-_Portrait_of_Nell_Gwyn.jpg

Summary

Artist
Simon Pietersz Verelst (1644–1721) wikidata:Q2012839
Alternative names
Simon Pietersz. ver Elst, Symon ver Elst, Simon Varelst, Simon Pietersz. Varelst, Simon Verelst, Pieter Verhulst, God of Flowers
Description Dutch botanical illustrator and painter
Date of birth/death 21 September 1644 (baptised) between 1710 and 1717
date QS:P,+1710-00-00T00:00:00Z/8,P1319,+1710-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1717-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Location of birth/death The Hague London
Work period from 1663 until 1710
date QS:P,+1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P580,+1663-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P582,+1710-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Work location
The Hague (1663), Voorburg (1663-1668), London (1668-1710), Paris
Authority file
artist QS:P170,Q2012839
Description
English: Portrait of Nell Gwyn (1650-1687), mistress of Charles II of England
"In this portrait Nell is holding a six-petalled flower which has been identified as jasmine. As a flower painter, Verelst would have been familiar with jasmine’s structure and its traditional inclusion in portraits to signify the amiable nature of a sitter. Jasmine is well-known for its intoxicating scent, and this combined with its almost translucent petals and fragility, allows Verelst to play with the senses of sight, smell and touch, recognised devices characteristic of seventeenth-century Dutch painting." [1]
Date 17 th century
date QS:P571,+1650-00-00T00:00:00Z/7
Medium oil on canvas
medium QS:P186,Q296955;P186,Q12321255,P518,Q861259
Dimensions height: 103.2 cm (40.6 in); width: 126.1 cm (49.6 in)
dimensions QS:P2048,103.2U174728
dimensions QS:P2049,126.1U174728
Object history

Provenance:

  • Possibly Alexander Popham, MP (c.1660-1705) and thence by family descent to;
  • Francis Leyborne-Popham (1809-80);
  • Hugh Francis Arthur Leyborne-Popham (1864-1943);
  • Sir Ernest Salter Wills, 3rd Bt, on purchasing the house in 1929;
  • By descent until sold;
  • Sotheby’s, London, The Contents of Littlecote House, 20-22 November 1985, lot 857;
  • Private collection, UK
  • Sold by Philip Mould & Co [2]
Exhibition history Exhibition of National Portraits, South Kensington Museum (later Victoria & Albert Museum), 13 April – 22 August 1868, no.740
Source/Photographer https://www.apollo-magazine.com/highlights-of-masterpiece-london/
Other versions
  • Portrait of 'Nell' Gwyn (c. 1680) by Simon Verelst, National Portrait Gallery
    Portrait of 'Nell' Gwyn (c. 1680) by Simon Verelst, National Portrait Gallery

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