Discover painter, draftsperson, decorative painter (of interiors) Jan Lievens

Name variations

This field records and makes accessible name variations, as found in sources. Alternate spellings, nicknames, maiden names - with or without the married name - are included in this category.

: Lievensz., Jan
Livens, Jan
Lyvius, Jan
Lyvyus, Jan

Monogram: IL
JL

Qualifications: painter, draftsperson, decorative painter (of interiors), court painter

Nationality/school: North Netherlandish
second generation Flemish immigrant

Born: Leiden (city) 1607-10-24
born 24 October 1607 (Orlers 1641, Houbraken 1718, enz.)

Deceased: Amsterdam (city) 1674-06-04
buried 8 June 1674

Family relationships this field records any family relationship to one or more other artist(s).: son of Lieven Hendricx (1570-1642), an embroiderer from Ghent, and Machtelt Jansdr. van Noortsant (1580-1622); brother of the publisher Joost Lievens (c. 1606-1649) and the painter Dirk Lievens; married to Suzanna Colyn de Nole (daughter of the sculptor Andries Colyns de Nole) in Antwerp, 23 December 1638; father of Jan Andrea Lievens; married to Cornelia de Bray in Oudekerk aan de Amstel, 2 August 1648

See also In this field, you will find references to names of groups or to the artists that made/make up groups. You may also come across references to other artists if there was/is question of collaboration without a joint name. This is the case, for instance, with artists who rendered parts of works by other artists (such as with P.P Rubens and J. Brueghel I).

This person/entity in other databases

400 hits in RKDimages as artist
49 hits in RKDlibrary as subject
2072 hits in RKDexcerpts as artist
240 hits in RKDtechnical as artist

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Biographical information

Active in

Leiden (stad) 1615 - 1617
apprentice of Joris van Schooten (Orlers 1641, Houbraken 1718)
Amsterdam (stad) 1617 - 1619
apprentice of Pieter Lastman for two years (Orlers 1641, Houbraken 1718)
Leiden (stad) 1620 - 1632
Londen (Engeland) 1632 - 1635
c. 1632 - c. 1635; received royal patronage According to Houbraken he went to London in 1631 ('when he was about 24 years old'). Only a few works from the three years in London can be identified. Orlers (1641) mentions a portrait of the royal family and Constantijn Huygens wrote a poem to a painting 'of the great steward of the king of England by the hand of J. Livy'. Although the pictorial evidence of his stay in England consists of only a few portraits on paper and a view of the city, two royal inventories from the middle of the 17th century mention Lievens, which contradicts the assumption that he only worked as an assistant in Van Dyck's studio (Saur 2015).
Calais
returned to Calais and from there to Antwerp (Houbraken 1718)
Antwerpen (stad) 1634-09-18 - 1644
free master in the Guild of St. Luke, Antwerp between 18 September 1634 and 18 September 1635; he became 'poorter'(citizen) on 12 December 1640; between 18 September 1642 and 18 September 1643 he paid 'camerrecht' (Rombouts/Van Lerius 1872/1961)
Leiden (stad) 1639
a short visit (Schneider 1932, p. 5)
Amsterdam (stad) 1644 - 1653
Berlijn 1653 - 1654
c. 1653-1654
Den Haag (stad) 1654 - 1659
member of Confrerie Pictura, mentioned as member living outside The Hague after he left 1658 (Buijsen/Dumas et al. 1998)
Amsterdam (stad) 1659 - 1669
Kleef 1663
In 1663 he traveled with Gerbrand van den Eeckhout and Jacob Esselens along the Rhine; in Cleves they made drawings of the Schwanenburg and its surroundings.
Den Haag (stad) 1670 - 1671
rented a house on Prinsegracht (Buijsen/Dumas et al. 1998)
Leiden (stad) 1671 - 1672
Amsterdam (stad) 1672 - 1674

born in

active in

died in

Connections with other artists

Pupil of This field mentions the names of teachers or masters. What is at issue are the teachers who made a significant contribution to the development of a students, as opposed to every instructor they ever had. See also the 'Education' field.: Lastman, Pieter
Schooten, Joris van
Houbraken 1718
Teacher of This field mentions the names of pupils. What is at issue are the pupils who were significantly influenced by a teacher as opposed to every student someone ever had. See also the 'Education' field.: Godijn, Dionys
Lievens, Dirk
Lievens, Jan Andrea
Schoock, Hendrik
Weerelt, Erick van den
Willebeeck, Balthasar
Witsen, Jonas (I)

also teacher of Jacob Cardoso Ribero, Aron de Chaves and Jonas Witsen (De Jager 1990)

Subjects This field specifies the various subject categories or genres that constitute the oeuvre of the artist in question. The contents of this field are generally based more on the documentation available at the RKD than on the literature.: forest landscape, genre, history (genre), landscape (genre), portrait, Christian religious scene, fruit piece, architecture (genre), peasant genre, vanitas (still life)

Medium/technique: oil paint

Member of

Confrerie Pictura

Literature

Literature in RKDLibrary: 49 hits in RKDlibrary as subject

Orlers 1641 , p. 375-377
Houbraken 1718-1721 , vol. 1 (1718), p. 141, 255, 296-301; vol. 2 (1719), p. 131, 251; vol. 3, p. 33 (as: Jan Lievensz.)
Walpole et al. 1762/1876 (ed. Wornum) , vol. 1, p. 340, note 1
Van der Aa 1852-1878 , vol. 11 (1865), p. 432-434 (as: Jan Lievens)
Rombouts/Van Lerius 1872/1961 , vol. 2, p. 61*, 68, 139
Obreen 1877-1890 , vol. 3 (1880-1881), p. 86-88 ('De Venus en Adonis van Lievens 1655')
Von Wurzbach 1906-1911 , vol. 2 (1910), p. 44-51
Bredius 1915-1921 , vol. 1 (1915), p. 186-227; vol. 7 (1921), p. 139-142
Thieme/Becker 1907-1950 , vol. 23 (1929), p. 214-215 (as: Lievens, Jan (1))
Waller 1938/1974 , p. 202-203 (as: Lievens, Jan (Livens, Lyvyus))
Gerson 1942/1983 , passim
Hollstein et al. 1949-2010 , vol. 11 [1954], p. 5-80 (as: Jan Lievens)
Ekkart/Wurfbain 1976 , p. 115-116
Witt Checklist 1978 , p. 177 (as: Lievensz. or Livens, Jan)
Nicolson 1979 , vol. 1, p. 138
Sumowski 1979-1992 , vol. 7 (1983), p. 3543-3936
Blankert/Slatkes 1986 , p. 307-310
Duverger 1984-2004 , vol. 4 (1989), p. 218 (dent 1638); p. 224, no. 1034 (contract of marriage 23-12-1638); vol. 5 (1991), p. 100 [his wife gets the usufruct of the inheritance of Suzanna de Bruijn, the widow of Jan Colyn de Nole]; vol. 9 (1997), p. 42-43, no. 2683 (bequest in his favour)
Van der Willigen/De Kinkelder (typescript 1993/1998) (as: Jan Lievens)
Briels 1997 , p. 352-353
Buijsen/Dumas et al. 1998 , p. 60, 64, 77, 190-194, 324
Kollmann 2000 , p. 234-235
Neumeister 2003 , p. 234-238
Van der Willigen/Meijer 2003 , p. 132
Bevers et al. 2009 , passim
Boschloo et al. 2011 , p. 153-165 (E. de Jongh, 'Van Campen's 'White' versus Lievens' 'Black'')
Dumas 2011 , p. 51-56 (G. Rubinstein, 'Three newly identified figure drawings by Jan Lievens')
Gottwald 2011 , passim
Sluijter 2015 , p. 379-384
Saur 1992- , vol. 84 (2015), p. 426 (text: J.N. Coutré)
Horn/Van Leeuwen 2021 [Houbraken Translated]

E.W. Mors, 'Jan Lievens', Leidsch jaarboekje 1907, p. 136-164
H. Schneider, 'Raffael und Lievens', Oud-Holland 35 (1917), p. 34-42
K. Bauch, 'Zum Werk des Jan Lievens (i)', Pantheon 25 (1967)
W. Sumowski, 'Observations on Jan Lievens' landscape drawings', Master Drawings 18 (1980), p. 370-373
Chr. Brown, 'Jan Lievens in Leiden and London', The Burlington Magazine 125 (1983), p. 663-671
M. Holtrop, 'Prenten en tekeningen van Jan Lievens. Tentoonstelling in het Rembrandthuis tot 8 januari 1989', De Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 40 (1988), no. 2, p. 22-32
A.M.Th. Leerintveld, ''Tquam soo wel te pass': Huygens' portretbijschriften en de datering van zijn portret door Jan Lievens', Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 8 (1989), p. 159-183
R. de Jager, ‘Meester, leerjongen, leertijd. Een analyse van zeventiende-eeuwse Noord-Nederlandse leerlingcontracten van kunstschilders, goud- en zilversmeden’, Oud Holland 104 (1990), p. 69-111, esp. p. 98-99, no. 11-12, 15, p. 102, no. 31
J. Douglas Stewart, 'Before Rembrandt's "Shadow" fell: Lievens, Van Dyck and Rubens: some reconsiderations', Mercury (1990), no. 11, p. 42-47
G.J.M. Weber, 'Jan Lievens's "The Shield-Raising of Brinio" - a second oil sketch', Mercury (1992), nos. 13/14, p. 44-50
D.A. de Witt, 'A scene from Cervantes in the Stadholder's collection: Lievens's Gypsy Fortune-Teller', Oud Holland 113 (1999), p. 181-186
B. Schnackenburg, '"Knabe im Atelier" und "Bücherstilleben", zwei frühe Gemälde von Jan Lievens und ihr Leidener Kontext: Rembrandt, Jan Davidz de Heem, Pieter Codde', Oud Holland 117 (2004), p. 33-47
B. Schnackenburg, 'Jan Lievens und Pieter de Grebber', Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 68 (2007), p. 181-218
S. Dickey, 'Jan Lievens in Rembrandt's house', De Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis (2008), p. 36-53
J.N. Coutré, 'Vanquishing the shadow: Jan Lievens comes to light after 250 Years', Dutch Crossing 33 (2009), p. 135-151
G. Korevaar, 'Jan Lievens ontsnapt aan Rembrandts schaduw', Museumtijdschrift (2009), no. 4, p. 20-23
B.E. van der Goes, 'De herontdekking van Jan Lievens', Kunst & Antiek Journaal Collect (2009), no. 4, p. 34-39
M. Haveman, 'Jan Lievens 1607-1674. Een begaafde meester omringd door reuzen', Kunstschrift (2009), no. 3, p. 2-5
A. Blankert, 'Lievens' onroerende schilderijen', Kunstschrift (2009), no. 3, p. 20-27
B. van den Boogert, 'Lievens in Londen. Een Leids wonderkind in Van Dycks atelier', Kunstschrift (2009), no. 3, p. 28-35
J. van der Veen, 'Opdrachtgevers in Amsterdam en Den Haag. In de gunst van hoge heren', Kunstschrift (2009), no. 3, p. 36-39
M. Royalton-Kisch, 'From Lievens to Rembrandt', Master Drawings 47 (2009), p. 508-511
M. Royalton-Kisch, 'Drawings by Rembrandt and his pupils', The Burlington Magazine 153 (2011), no. 1295, p. 97-102
G. Rubinstein, 'Brief Encounter: The Early Drawings of Jan Lievens and Their Relationship with those of Rembrandt', Master Drawings 49 (2011), p. 352-370
B. Schnackenburg, 'Aus dem Schatten Rembrandts zu Lievens. Eine Neubewertung der "Büste eines Mannes mit Knappe" in der Kasseler Gemäldegalerie', in: B. Onken and D. Rohde, 'In Omni Historia Curiosus', Studien Zur Geschichte Von Der Antike Bis Zur Neuzeit: Festschrift Fuer Helmuth Schneider Zum 65. Geburtstag, Wiesbaden 2011, p. 337-401
J. N. Coutré, ‘Decoration à l’Orange: Jan Lievens’s Mars and Venus in context’, Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 5 (2013), no. 2 (http://www.jhna.org/index.php/past-issues/volume-5-issue-2-2013/197-jacquelyn-n-coutre)
C. Brown, 'Jan Lievens: Friend and rival of the young Rembrandt, B. Schnackenburg', The Burlington Magazine 159 (2017), p. 399-400

J. Coutré, Jan Lievens, ambition, influence and originality in the 17th c. Netherlands, diss. in preparation (IFA/NYU, M. Westermann) Art Bulletin 90/2 (June 2008), p. 327

Documentation RKD

This field specifies the location of the various RKD documentation materials. Most of the locations refer to our art-historical image documentation. In addition, you will find references to press documentation (clippings and short articles) here.

Project: Inventory Decorative Interior Paintings in the Netherlands (1600-1940)
Gerson Digital : Germany
Gerson Digital : United Kingdom

External links: this artist in the British Museum
this artist in Ecartico
Coutré 2013

Permalink: https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/50003

Creation date: 1992-01-12; Last modified date: 2023-05-16

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Jan Lievens

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