Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Jacobus Vrel, Enigmatic Forerunner of Vermeer

A Seated Woman Looking at a Child through a Window, by Jacobus Vrel.

July 26 – Sept 17, 2023
121 Rue de Lille, 75007 Paris, France

Who was Jacobus Vrel? No one really knows, except that he was a remarkable 17th-century Dutch artist who painted about 50 interiors and street scenes of everyday life, several of which were until recently attributed to Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch. “It remains unknown where he lived and worked, and even his dates have yet to be discovered,” says Quentin Buvelot, the curator of this exhibition at Fondation Custodia. Vrel’s creative period is generally narrowed down to between 1654 and 1662, based on his only signed and dated painting, Woman Leaning Out of an Open Window (1654). Most of the works are signed with his initials, or with a monogram made from “J” and “V.” The show has 22 paintings and one drawing by Vrel and several works by his contemporaries. —Milton Esterow

Photo courtesy of Fondation Custodia