Jan Pieter Veth was a Dutch painter, poet, art critic and university lecturer. He is especially noted as a portrait painter. Amongst his sitters were Max Liebermann, Lambertus Zijl, Frank van der Goes, Antoon Derkinderen and other contemporaries including various fellow painters.
Background
Jan Pieter Veth was born on March 18, 1864 in Dordrecht, Netherlands. He was the son of Gerradus Huibert Veth, a Dordrecht iron merchant and liberal politician, and Anna Cornelia Giltay. On his mother's side he descended from the Dordrecht painter family of Van Strij (his mother was a granddaughter of Jacob van Strij). He was one of the seven children.
Education
Veth received his art education at the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
Career
With several of his fellow students he founded the St. Luke group. From 1885 he worked with the painter Anton Mauve in Laren. After his marriage in 1888 he settled in Bussum. In addition he was a well-known poet, belonging to the Eighties movement and publishing work in the De Nieuwe Gids.
He designed the cover for "De Kleine Johannes", a book written by his friend, Frederik van Eeden, contributing to the development of book-art in the Netherlands. As Professor Extraordinary in History of Art and Aesthetics, he was associated with the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.