Jacob Leyssens

Jacob Leyssens or Jacob Lyssens (nickname Notenkraker) (1661, Antwerp - 1710, Antwerp), was a Flemish painter and decorator. After training in Antwerp, he spent a long time in Rome. After his return to Antwerp, he was active as a painter and decorator and collaborated with prominent Antwerp still life painters such as Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Younger and Jan Baptist Bosschaert.

Life He was born in Antwerp in 1661 as the son of Jacobus and Anthonetta Sas. He was registered as a pupil of Peter Ykens in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1674. He travelled to Rome at a young age as he is mentioned there in 1680. He became a member of the Bentvueghels, an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists working in Rome, with the 'bentname' 'Notenkraker' (Nutcracker). In his biography of Leyssens (referred to as N. Lyssens), the early Dutch biographer Jacob Campo Weyerman claims that this bentname was chosen because of Leyssens' big nose.

The difficult financial situation of his father caused him to return to return to Antwerp. He was admitted as a 'wijnmeester' (wine master) in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in the guild year 1698–1699. As this was typically a title reserved for the sons of members of the Guild, it demonstrates that his father was or had been also a member of the Guild (although there is no record of his father in the Guild's records). In the year in which he became a master he received Jan Baptist Bellenraet and Jan Sas as pupils.

Work Only a few of his works are known, one of which is in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. It is now in the collection of the Plantin-Moretus Museum.