Jan Philip van Thielen

Jan Philip van Thielen or Jan Philips van Thielen (1618 in Mechelen – 1667 in Booischot) was a Flemish painter who specialized in flower pieces and garland paintings. He was a regular collaborator with leading Flemish and Dutch figure painters of his time. Van Thielen was the most popular flower painter in Flanders and his patrons included Diego Felipez de Guzmán, 1st Marquis of Leganés and Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the art-loving governor of the Spanish Netherlands.

Life Van Thielen was born in Mechelen as the son of a minor nobleman by the name of Liebrecht van Thielen. Jan Philip would eventually assume his father's title of Lord of Couwenberch. His mother was Anna Rigouts or Rigouldts. He signed some of his paintings with the names of Couwenberg and Rigouldts in his signature, to point to his noble status.

He left his native Mechelen for Antwerp where in 1631 or 1632 he started his training as a painter with his brother-in-law Theodoor Rombouts who had married his sister Anna in 1627. Rombouts was a leading history and genre painter who had studied in Italy where he had become a follower of Caravaggio. Theodoor Rombouts was a prominent history painter who had married Jan Philip's sister Anna in 1627. In 1639 van Thielen married Francisca de Hemelaer with whom he had 9 children. Quellinus drew van Thielens' portrait that was engraved by Richard Collin for Cornelis de Bie's book of artist biographies Het Gulden Cabinet.

Because he liked flower painting he changed masters in 1641 and began training with Daniel Seghers, the leading flower painter in Flanders. He became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1641. In 1660 he moved with his family to his hometown Mechelen where he became a master in the local Guild of Saint Luke the next year. Van Thielen was the teacher of his daughters and also taught a certain N. Bainville in Mechelen.

Flower pieces The style of his flower pieces is less spontaneous than that of his master Seghers. Each flower stands out individually rather than blending into the composition as a whole.

Garland paintings Van Thielen regularly worked on garland paintings in which the staffage was painted by other artists. Garland paintings are a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick van Balen at the request of the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo at the beginning of the 17th century. Other artists involved in the early development of the genre included his master Daniel Seghers, Andries Daniels and Peter Paul Rubens. The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement.

Collections The Ashmolean Museum (University of Oxford), the Fitzwilliam Museum (University of Cambridge), the Honolulu Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.) and the Pinacoteca di Brera (Milan) are among the public collections holding paintings by Jan Philip van Thielen.