Betsy Repelius

She was the youngest of eight children born to a wealthy merchant family, engaged primarily in the cheese trade.

[1] Against her father's wishes, she decided to become an artist and took her first lessons from the history painter Petrus Franciscus Greive.

[2] It had a studio in the attic that might be described as an early loft and the family coat-of-arms was incorporated into the façade with tile panels.

Later, she hired Piet Mondriaan, then a young, aspiring artist, to paint allegorical scenes and putti on the ceiling.

She remained unmarried, but had a wide circle of close artistic friends that included Thérèse Schwartze and Lizzy Ansingh.