Jan Wils - landscape with Haarlem Bavo church in background 1644 FHM01 OS-I-539

Jan Wils (1603–1666) was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...

painter.

Biography

Wils was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. According to Houbraken he was one of a group of teachers of

Nicolaes Berchem Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1 October 1620 – 18 February 1683) was a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genr ...

, along with Berchem's father Pieter Klaaze (a "gemeen" or common painter), Jan van Goijen, Klaas Mojaart, Pieter Fransze Grebber, and Berchem's cousin Giov. Babtist Weeninx.Jan Wils mentioned in Berchem's biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadtwisting'' (Twyndraat) fr ...

, courtesy of the

Digital library for Dutch literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

Jan Wils' daughter married Berchem, and when she heard nothing from his studio upstairs, she would bang on the ceiling with a mop to wake him up, assuming he had fallen asleep at his easel. According to the RKD he was baptized on June 15, 1603 in the Nieuwe Kerk and was buried there 22 October 1666.Jan Wils
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

In between he spent time in Haarlem and in Italy. In 1628 he registered both as a member of the Haarlem

schutterij Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...

and the

Haarlem Guild of St. Luke The Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke was first a Christian, and later a city Guild for various trades falling under the patron saints Luke the Evangelist and Saint Eligius. History During the lifetime of Geertgen tot Sint Jans, there was probably a ...

.De archiefbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem 1497-1798, Hessel Miedema, 1980, In 1634 he is registered in the Haarlem guild as an art dealer. He travelled to France and Italy in 1654–56 and in 1655 he travelled to Lyons from Rome with

Dirck Helmbreeker Dirck Helmbreker, Theodor Helmbreeker, or Teodoro Elembrech (1633–1696) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Italianate landscapes. Biography According to Houbraken he lived from 1624 to 1694, but this has since been proven to be incorrect.