Betsy Repelius artwork • watercolour • drawing • previously for sale The painter Thérèse Schwartze at work

Betsy Repelius, daughter of wealthy parents, showed a talent for drawing and painting from an early age. From 1867 to 1872 she took painting lessons in the studio of lithographer P.F. Greive in Amsterdam. There she became skilled in painting portrait and genre pieces, which would become her specialty. She works there with Jan van Essen, Marie Heineke, Hein Kever and – occasionally – Lizzy Ansingh, among others. She then visits the Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam for three years, where she learns to watercolour from Nicolaas van der Waaij together with Thérèse Schwartze. In 1889-1890 the painter had Joseph Cuypers design a house at 29 Vondelstraat. In the attic, which was being used as a painting studio, she had a ceiling painting applied by Piet Mondriaan around 1902 or 1905.