Background
Verheyden was born in Breda. According to the RKD he was the son of the painter Franck Pietersz Verheyden who died before he could teach him to paint, though in fact his earliest work was painted at age 17.
Verheyden was born in Breda. According to the RKD he was the son of the painter Franck Pietersz Verheyden who died before he could teach him to paint, though in fact his earliest work was painted at age 17.
According to Johan van Gool Verheyden"s mother died when he was two, leaving his father with seven children, of whom Mattheus was the youngest. Though his father remarried, Mattheus became a ward of the city of Breda when his father died in 1711. In 1722 he decided to make a trip to England, but stopped in Amsterdam first, where he painted several portraits.
He then travelled to Breda to paint the regents who had helped him and to accept his inheritance money with which he was to traveling
He kept a list of all the people he painted and Van Gool published a large selection of these names in his biographical sketch. He died in The Hague.
Confrerie Pictura]
He was a pupil of Hendrik Carré II, Constantijn Netscher, Carel de Moor, and Augustinus Terwesten II and was a member of the Confrerie Pictura until 1762.