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Herman Verelst (1641, Rotterdam – 1699, London) was an Anglo-Dutch painter.
Fairly soon after, Verelst moved to Amsterdam where he married Cecilia Fend from Venice. The couple went on to have at least seven children of which Lodvick Verelst, John Verelst, Michael Verelst and Adriana Verelst became artists with varying levels of success. Cornelis Verelst and Maria Verelst are often identified as their children. There is no record of these names amongst their children, arguably being due to errors made in near-contemporary biographies.
Verelst's early career in Amsterdam coincided with a collapse in the art market in the Low Countries in the late 1660s. His father and siblings left The Hague in about 1667 but Verelst was still working in Amsterdam in 1670 where he sued a Johannes van Keulen for payment in advance for two paintings.
Reliable evidence for Verelst's travels in Europe comes from the genealogical records of his children. The family were in Venice in the mid 1670s. Their son John seems to have been born after the family left The Netherlands because there is no record of birth or baptism. Their next son, Michael, applied for Naturalization in London in 1701 stating that he had been born in Venice. His birth must have been around 1675. A daughter, Catharina Helena, was baptized in the cathedral in Ljubljana in February 1678. Anna Catharina was born and died in Vienna in 1681. The family fled the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683 with one last child, Adriana, either born in Vienna or on the road to London. John and Adriana jointly applied for naturalisation in 1711.
Verelst was able to establish himself as primarily a portrait painter when he arrived in London. Two of his brothers, the famous Simon and the less-famous William Verelst, were working as painters. In 1692, Matthew Smith wrote: "Mr. Harman Verelst Paints well by the Life and was in good Repute in Germany; he likewise Paints Fruit etc very fine". Bainbrigg Buckridge, writing in 1706 shortly after Verelst's death: "He painted History, Fruit and Flowers, after a very Manner very pleasant and well coloured. ... He studied some time at Rome, and resided a while in the Emperor’s court at Vienna, which City he left upon the Turks coming before it in 1683."
Verelst died in late July or early August 1699 and was buried at St Giles in the Fields, London. If there were a will, it has not survived. Cecilia was granted probate. Verelst seemed to have provided generously for his children: when Adriana was separating from her husband in 1717, her husband claimed that she had been apportioned a share of household goods, furniture, pictures and other possessions. An auction of his picture collection was held in 1702 organised by his son Peter. The catalogue includes a number of paintings by Verelst's brother William who had died in 1702. It seems that Verelst's sale was used by the family to dispose of art belonging to the less well-known William.
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