Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Peeters, John
PEETERS or PIETERS, JOHN (1667–1727), painter, born at Antwerp in 1667, was related to the eminent marine painter Bonaventura Peeters. He studied painting at Antwerp under a history painter called Eeckhout, and in 1685 came to England with a recommendation to Sir Godfrey Kneller [q. v.] Peeters worked with Kneller for several years, being one of Kneller's chief drapery painters until 1712, when he left, and devoted himself chiefly to mending and repairing damaged pictures and drawings. From his success in this line he obtained the nickname of ‘Doctor Peeters.’ He was also a skilled copyist, especially of the works of Rubens. He was one of the masters of George Vertue [q. v.], the engraver, who spoke highly of his merits as a teacher. Peeters was a man of a lively disposition and improvident nature, and, after suffering much from the gout, he died in London in September 1727, and was buried in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Vertue's Diaries (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 23076, f. 27).]