Coenraet Roepel was born in 1678 in The Hague. He suffered from poor health, but recovered by gardening and became enthusiastic in painting flowers and fruit. The portrait painter Constantyn Netscher became his teacher - his influence may be regarded in several details of Roepel's paintings, particularly in architectural elements and sculptures in the background. He cooperated with Matthias Terwesten in wall decorations in The Hague, some still existing. Roepel was inscribed in the Confrerie Pictura in 1718 and became the deacon of the board later. Dated works by Coenraet Roepel are known between 1715 - 1738. He died in 1748.
Roepel was a successful painter, and his work was commissioned by the Elector Palatine in Diisseldorf in 1716, for whom Rachel Ruysch had also been working, and by other members of the nobility, including Lord Cadogan. According to van Gool (1750), who gives him full credit in eight pages and who reproduces his portrait, he was well paid and received 1000 guilders from Prince William of Hessen for two Kapitaele stukken. Van Gool mentions several of his commissioners and describes that they let the artist paint their own flowers, one of the very few examples where we learn from commissioners and commissions. We know from eighteenth century collections and sale catalogues that Roepel's works were held in high esteem. They were sometimes copied by his contemporaries.
The work of Roepel, often comprising pairs, is represented in the Gemaldegalerie, Leipzig, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Alte Pinakothek, Munich and the National Museum, Prague.