German painter. Although born in Frankenthal on the Rhine, Marrel is more closely associated with the two great centres of still-life painting in northern Europe: Frankfurt and Utrecht. Having initially trained under Georg Flegel in the former, he soon moved to Utrecht in the early 1630s where he worked with Jan Davidsz. de Heem. He also came under the influence of the Bosschaert family of flower painters and Roelandt Savery, who had settled in Utrecht after working for Rudolf II in Prague. Back in Frankfurt in 1650, Marrel tutored the young Abraham Mignon and later arranged for him to further his training in Utrecht with de Heem. Jacob Marrel specialized in 'portraits' of tulips in bloom. Tulip bulbs were collected fanatically in 17th-century Holland, and astronomical prices were sometimes paid for a single bulb. //