Jan Anton van der Baren

Jan Anton van der Baren (1615 – 30 or 31 December 1686) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, priest and museum curator active in Brussels and Vienna. He specialised in still lifes of flowers and vegetables, some of which include an architectural background. He held the offices of court chaplain and director of the picture gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm and Emperor Leopold I.

Life Jan Anton van der Baren was likely born in Brussels. He became court chaplain to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, who resided in Brussels. He accompanied the Archduke on his return to Vienna in 1656 and remained there until his death.

In Vienna he became director of the picture gallery of the Archduke, one of the most extensive art collections in Europe at the time. Van der Baren compiled an inventory of the collection in 1659, although he probably did not himself draft the German language inventory that he signed together with three other members of the Archduke’s court administration.

After the Archduke’s death in 1662, van der Baren continued to hold the offices of court chaplain and director of the picture gallery under Emperor Leopold I.

Van der Baren collaborated on garland paintings with other painters, such as Erasmus Quellinus II and the Flemish émigré painter Nikolaus van Hoy. These collaborators painted the devotional image while van der Baren painted the flower garland. An example is the Garland of flowers surrounding the Holy Family in the Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest), a collaboration with van Hoy. Another example of this genre is the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium).

Flower pieces He also painted still lifes of flowers in vases such as the Glass with roses in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. He also painted the Flower still life in a stone niche (Auctioned at Hampel Fine Art Auctions on 5 December 2008, Vienna, lot 263), which follows the early 17th century model of the presentation of a flower vase in a niche.

He further painted still lifes of vegetables and an interesting still life showing the Gifts of the Magi with a cityscape in the background (both also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum).