Born in Holland in 1837, Petrus Van der Velden was trained and worked in Holland as a lithographer, only turning to serious painting in 1864. He won a scholarship to Berlin and became an established Dutch painter who met and impressed Vincent Van Gogh. However, in 1890 he and his family moved to New Zealand and settled in Christchurch where taught and influenced a great many artists who were themselves to become notable. In 1898 he moved to Sydney where he exhibited with the Art Society of New South Wales. His wife died the following year, and in 1905 he returned to New Zealand, married an Australian and settled in Wellington. Van der Velden died in 1913.
Petrus Van Der Velden is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1971 of 408, of which 277 (68%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $79,893 for Mount Rolleston and the Otira River sold by Webb's in May 2007. This year 5 works have been offered for sale. Works by Petrus Van Der Velden are held by the Museum Of New Zealand, Christchurch Art Gallery and a further three major public national galleries (see list below).
Petrus Van Der Velden is listed in the following standard biographical references:
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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