Jacob Marrel (1613/1614 – 11 November 1681) was a German still life painter active in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

during the Dutch Golden Age.

Biography

Jacob Marrel was born in

Frankenthal Frankenthal (Pfalz) ( pfl, Frongedahl) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. History Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, af ...

. He moved with his family in 1624 to Frankfurt, where he became a student of Georg Flegel in 1627. Attracted by the high prices for flower still life paintings, Marrel studied from 1632–1650Jacob Marrel
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

with Jan Davidszoon de Heem in

Utrecht (city) Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, before returning to Frankfurt, where he married Johanna Sybilla Heim(ius), the widow of

Matthäus Merian Matthäus is a given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: ;Surname * Lothar Matthäus, (born 1961), German former football player and manager ;Given name * Matthäus Aurogallus, Professor of Hebrew at the University of Wittenbe ...

, who died in 1650. He took on students, and his wife's daughter

Maria Sibylla Merian Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 164713 January 1717) was a German naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to observe insects directly. Merian was a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss M ...

became a renowned painter of flowers and insects, rivalling

Rachel Ruysch Rachel Ruysch (3 June 1664 – 12 October 1750) was a Dutch still-life painter from the Northern Netherlands. She specialized in flowers, inventing her own style and achieving international fame in her lifetime. Due to a long and successful caree ...

as a female artist. She later married one of his pupils,

Johann Andreas Graff Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

, in 1665, after a 6-year tour he made to Venice and Rome upon completion of his studies under Marrel. In 1660 Marrel spent another period in Utrecht, with his student

Abraham Mignon Abraham Mignon or Minjon (21 June 164027 March 1679), was a still life painter.Abraham Mignon
at the

, who married and settled there. This is presumably the period in which Maria Sibylla Merian was introduced to Dutch flower painting. In 1665 Marrel returned to Germany, attending the wedding of his step-daughter in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and in Frankfurt establishing a school of his own in flower painting.Jacob Marrel
at the

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

, retrieved 30-aug-09 He was active as an art dealer in Utrecht until 1669. He died in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. He signed his work with ''Jacobus Marrellus Fecit''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marrel, Jacob 1610s births 1681 deaths German still life painters German Baroque painters Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters People from Frankenthal Flower artists