Jacob Vrel


Jacob Vrel was a Dutch, Flemish, or Westphalian painter of interiors and urban street scenes during the Dutch Golden Age.

Biography

According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, Vrel was a member of the same "school" or artistic style as Pieter de Hooch, showing simple intimate scenes of daily life in towns, often including studies in perspective. Though no evidence for a specific "school" exists, the center of influence seems to have been in the artistic centers of Haarlem and Delft, for artists born during the years 1620–1630. The painters listed by the RKD in this category are Esaias Boursse, Hendrick van der Burgh, Pieter de Hooch, Pieter Janssens Elinga, Cornelis de Man, Hendrick ten Oever, and Jacob Vrel. Seymour Slive names Vrel as among "those whose works have been confused with" Pieter de Hooch.
Vrel's birthplace is unknown but he is considered to have worked in Delft and Haarlem. He is also referred to as Jan instead of Jacob and known alternative spellings of his surname are Frel, Frelle, Vreele, Vrelle, and Vriel. His works are sometimes confused with those by Esaias Boursse.

Public collections

Thirty-eight to forty paintings have been attributed to Vrel. A retrospective exhibition curated by Berndt Ebert of the Alte Pinakothek, in collaboration with the Fondation Custodia in Paris and the Mauritshuis in The Hague, opens late 2020. Among the public collections holding works by the artist in their permanent collections are: