Jan Baptist Borrekens

Jan Baptist Borrekens or Jan Baptist Borkens (17 May 1611 – 23 February 1675) was a Flemish painter and art dealer. He was a history painter and is known to have collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens.

Life Jan Baptist Borrekens was born in Antwerp. His brother Mattheus later became a prominent print maker.

Borrekens became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in the Guild year 1629–1630. In 1631 he joined the Society of the Aged Bachelors (Sodaliteit der Bejaarde Jongmans), a fraternity for bachelors established by the Jesuit order. In 1634 he received Gillis Bollaert as his pupil.

On 30 January 1636 he married Catharina Breugel, the daughter of the famous painter Jan Brueghel the Elder. Peter Paul Rubens was one of the witnesses at the wedding as he was the guardian of the bride. As a result of the marriage Borrekens became the brother in law of the prominent painter David Teniers the Younger who was the husband of a sister of his wife. Borrekens and Teniers did not get along and at some point Borrekens reported Teniers to the authorities on the ground that Teniers was passing himself off as an aristocrat and was using a coat of arms. As a result of this report Teniers was prohibited from using the coat of arms. The canvas which Borrekens created after a design by Rubens represents The apotheosis of Hercules and was in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid before it was donated to the Fine Arts Museum of Coruña. This is the only known painting by Borrekens.