Peter Vos artwork • watercolour • drawing • for sale Portrait of a boy

Peter Vos is known for his illustrations for books and magazines such as Vrij Nederland. At a young age, about four years old, he started drawing. His father encouraged him to do so. Although he later took up the paintbrush, Vos continued to draw throughout his life. He studied at the academy in Amsterdam and soon received commissions for book illustrations. He often drew and painted animals, with a preference for birds, which he studied in Artis or in the woods. It is sometimes said of these drawings that they are not just bird studies, but portraits of individual characters that he brings to life on paper. Vos draws smoothly, applies quick lines in ink or pencil, which he combines with hatching, and rarely uses exuberant colours. His drawings are naturalistic and realistic. In addition to animals, Vos draws many self-portraits and other people, not commissioned, he places his figures in a humorous, almost cartoonish way.