Jan Philips 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 Southern Netherlands.

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 his mother’s name.

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. Theodoor Rombouts was a prominent history painter who had married Jan Philip's sister Anna in 1627. In 1693 van Thielen married Francisca de Hemelaer. Through his marriage he was the brother-in-law of Erasmus Quellinus II. Erasmus Quelllinus was married to the sister of his wife and would become one of the leading history painters in Flanders after the deaths of Rubens and van Dyck. Quellinus drew van Thielens’ portrait that was engraved by Richard Collin for Cornelis de Bie's book of artist biographies Het Gulden Cabinet. Van Thielen and his wife had 9 children.

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.

Three of van Thielen’s daughters became flower painters: Maria Theresa van Thielen (1640–1706), Anna-Maria (b 1641) and Francisca-Catherina (b 1645). Only works of the eldest sister have come down to us as the two younger sisters entered convents. The sisters must have been exceptional flower painters as they were praised by their contemporary, the artist biographer Cornelis de Bie in his Het Gulden Cabinet published in 1662. Van Thielen was the teacher of his daughters and also taught a certain N. Bainville in Mechelen.

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