Jan Baptist Huysmans

Jan Baptist Huysmans (born 1654 in Antwerp; died 1716 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp who is known for his Italianate and arcadian landscapes and architectural capricci.

Life Jan Baptist Huysmans was born in Antwerp as the son of Hendrick Huysmans and Catharina van der Meyden. He was baptized in Antwerp Cathedral on 7 October 1654. Jan Baptist was the brother of Cornelis, a prominent landscape painter. His brother Cornelis was possibly his teacher. He possibly also studied for a while with the marine painter Hendrik van Minderhout. He was registered as a pupil at the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1675/76 and he became a master in 1676/77.

Like his brother Cornelis he painted imaginary Italianate landscapes. His works are often a fusion of the style of North European wooded landscape painting with the Italian inspired vista. In his landscapes with ruins Huysmans also shows his indebtedness to the type of architectural landscape painting first popularised by Claude Lorrain in Rome and by Nicolas Poussin. These landscapes often depict a glimpse of a pastoral idyll although they may sometimes include elements such as ruins and a tomb, which remind the viewer of the closeness of death.

As was common practice at the time, he collaborated with specialist painters in Antwerp such as the history and figure painter Jan Erasmus Quellinus. Jan Baptist Huysmans would typically provide the landscape elements in these collaborative works.