Matthijs Maris

Who was Matthijs Maris?

Matthias Marris was a Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer. He was also known as Matthijs Maris or Thijs. Initially belonging to the Hague School, like his two brothers, Jacob and Willem, his later works deviated more and more from that school into a unique style influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.

When Matthijs was twelve, he registered at the Hague Academy of Art, but did not pass the entrance exam. Therefore he took lessons from Isaac Cornelis Elink Sterk, secretary of the Academy. One year later he was admitted and studied there until 1855. A grant from Queen Sophie enabled him to follow his brother Jacob to Antwerp, where they rented rooms together. In 1858 Matthijs returned to The Hague, where Jacob already had a studio they could share. A later commission enabled them to travel in and start painting in Oosterbeek with painters as Gerard Bilders and Anton Mauve.

In 1860 he traveled with his brother Jacob along the Rhine to Switzerland and back through France to the Netherlands. In Cologne the brothers saw an exhibition that presented an overview of German art since 1800, which intensified the influence of German Romanticism on Matthijs.