(c1576 - 1621)
Paul [Pauwels] van Somer, portrait painter, was probably born in Antwerp. He is first recorded working in Amsterdam in 1604 and was in Leiden by 1612 and in Brussels in 1616. By December of that year, he had settled in London, where he remained for the rest of his life, living in St Martin’s Lane, near Trafalgar Square. Although attributing works to Somer is problematic, he is known to have painted portraits of Queen Anne of Denmark, King James I and Prince Charles during his time in England, as well as making a posthumous copy of a portrait of Prince Henry. Somer died just five years after his arrival and was buried at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. He left a widow named Cornelia.
