Nita Spilhaus

[2] Nita's father moved from Lübeck in order to run a branch of the family business in Lisbon, and it was there that he met his Portuguese wife-to-be.

She moved to Cape Colony in 1907 because of the death of her grandfather in 1906, joining her brother Karl, and the family of her uncle Arnold Wilhelm Spilhaus (1845-1946) at his home 'Hohenort' in Constantia, who had already settled in the Cape, was managing a successful import/export company, was an enthusiastic hiker and botanist, and was a founder member of the Mountain Club of South Africa.

[4][5][6] In due course she befriended various artists such as Edward Roworth, Moses Kottler, Allerley Glossop, Pieter Wenning, Ruth Prowse, Hugo Naudé and Florence Zerffi, who nursed her back to health during the 1918 flu pandemic.

She married an osteologist Ernst Simon in 1921, the couple returning to Munich in 1925, living and working there until 1938,just before WWII, when they moved back to South Africa to stay.

[8][9] Her oil paintings were Impressionist in style, her landscapes rich in atmosphere, while her flower studies are notable for their vivid colours.