Jacobus Vrel. Forerunner of Vermeer

The biography of Jacobus Vrel, to whom the Fondation Custodia is devoting a remarkable retrospective, is a quick one to write: we know almost nothing about the artist, apart from his works (only 50 in all). We know neither where nor when he was born, nor who his teacher was, nor whether he was a professional or an amateur (the latter is unlikely, however), nor where he worked, nor when and where he died... No mention of him has been found, either in the biographies of artists of the period or in archival documents, with the exception of an inventory of the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhem of Austria, in 1659, who owned three of them, two of which are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and one in the Leiden Collection (see this article). Only one painting is dated, 1654, but several are signed (sometimes with a monogram), which has made it possible to reconstruct his work with sufficient points of comparison, without being able to give a precise chronology.

1. After Jacobus Vrel
(active between 1654 and 1662)
Interior with a Woman
Leaning through a Closed Door
(engraving after a painting of unknown location, oil on panel - 36 x 29 cm, reproduced in Théophile Thoré’s article and attributed by him to Vermeer)

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2. Jacobus Vrel (active between 1654 and 1662)
Street Scene
Oil on panel - 41,3 x 34 cm
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum
Photo: The J. Paul Getty Museum

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His rediscovery is recent and is due to the great art historian who invented Vermeer, Théophile Thoré. But here again, Vrel is a special case: Thoré reproduced on the first page of his catalogue of Vermeer’s works published in 1866 the engraving of a painting by Vrel (now lost - ill. 1). Of the seventy-two numbers in this catalogue, seven are actually by Vrel. In the same year, at the first exhibition devoted to the Delft painter, of the eleven paintings given to him, three were by Vrel, and all three belonged to Thoré. The visitors, including Théophile Gautier, greatly admired them. Referring to the Getty’s painting of a street scene (ill. 2), he wrote in Le Moniteur Universel: "We have found there [...] van der Meer of Delft, with his Dutch City Interior, a marvel that is part of the collection of W. B."

3. Jacobus Vrel (active between 1654 and 1662)
A Busy Street Scene
Oil on panel - 39 x 29.3 cm
Munich, Alte Pinakothek
Photo: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

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Unfortunately, this painting was unable to come to Paris. It should be noted that this project, conceived by the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich, the Mauritshuis and the Fondation Custodia, was severely disrupted by the health crisis. The exhibition at the Mauritshuis was smaller than the one we can see today in Paris. For their part, Munich has finally decided not to host this exhibition, even though they were involved in it to the point of buying a painting…