(b Antwerp, bapt 26 July 1632; d London, bur 26 May 1708). Flemish painter, active in England. He was the youngest son of the painter Hendrik Du Bois (c. 1589–1646) and studied with Philips Wouwerman in 1652–3 before spending some years in Italy with his brother Edward Du Bois (1619–96). He had returned to Haarlem by 1661. The brothers settled in London c. 1680. Du Bois’s earlier portraits are busts set within a plain oval surround. They are in the Dutch bourgeois tradition and make no concessions to prevailing English taste. Sir William Jones and Elizabeth, Lady Jones, both signed and dated 1682 (both London, Dulwich Pict. Gal.), are typical examples of his vivid style. He produced similar works on a smaller scale and oil miniatures on copper. He also painted an unusual portrait of his friend Adrian Beverland, a licentious poet, as a ‘vertuoso deseigning’ among pyramids and ruins; the work is known from a mezzotint (London, BM) by Isaac Beckett. Du Bois’s patron and friend Lord Somers commissioned a full-length portrait in Lord Chancellor’s robes (c. 1698; Wrest Park, Beds), and the artist also painted Archbishop Tenison (1695; London, Lambeth Pal.), but official portraiture was really beyond his range. He painted landscapes and battle scenes, usually involving Turks on horseback, as well as pastiches of Italian Old Masters. These were apparently sold as originals, and subsequent authentication has proved very difficult.

• Du Bois, Simon
  • Berchem, Nicolaes, §3: Critical reception and posthumous reputation