A coat of arms with a black and white wolf's head above a red shield featuring a black wolf's head and a white star, surrounded by red and white heraldic mantling, with a banner below reading 'By Virtus et Veritas'.

Eager to master the skills of historical painters and to keep old masters’ techniques alive in contemporary art, Pepijn chose ARTIFICIUM as the title of a brochure with a selection of his oeuvre.

The noun artificium is formed by combining the Latin words ars (meaning art or skill) and facere (meaning to make or to do). It covers several distinct but related categories:

  • Skill and craftmenship
    At its core, artificium refers to a profession, trade or the manual skill required to produce something. It describes the practical application of human talent.

  • Art and creative work
    It refers to actual artwork, the creation of a physical piece or a craft that requires aesthetic and technical proficiency.

  • As a more abstract definition, artificium can refer to a technique , a specific method of doing something, or a clever device.

Knowledge and painting skills of Pepijn include oilpainting, egg-tempera, buon fresco and watercolour. In addition his oeuvre shows a selection of his pencil drawings (anatomical studies, portrets, manga, caricature) and armorial design. Furthermore he is skilled in medieval bookbinding, calligraphy and illuminations.

A digitally painted portrait of a man with light skin, brown hair, glasses, and a beard, dressed in a colorful, historical academic gown with a red trim and a blue bow tie with red patterns. He is seated with a background of dark green and black, a crest in the top left corner, and a stack of books on a wooden surface behind him, with titles on subjects like art, philosophy, and science.
A digitally painted portrait of a man with light skin, brown hair, glasses, and a beard, dressed in a colorful, historical academic gown with a red trim and a blue bow tie with red patterns. He is seated with a background of dark green and black, a crest in the top left corner, and a stack of books on a wooden surface behind him, with titles on subjects like art, philosophy, and science.

This painting, simply titled
“The Student”
is a self portrait bij Pépin François Gisel Suurmeijer.
To commemorate being awarded the title of
Magister Litterarum Art History
from the University of St Andrews
2018