Jan Baptist Weenix

Weenix, Jan Baptist: <em>Landscape with Shepherdess</em>Landscape with Shepherdess, oil on canvas by Jan Baptist Weenix, 1650–60; in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.

Jan Baptist Weenix (born 1621, Amsterdam—died October 6, 1663, Doetinchem, Netherlands) was a conventional painter of Italianate landscapes, fanciful seascapes, still lifes with dead game, and portraits. Jan Micker was his first master. He later studied under Abraham Bloemaert in Utrecht and Claes Moeyaert in Amsterdam. In 1643 Weenix travelled to Italy and stayed there four years, mostly in Rome. While there he was employed by Giovanni Battista Cardinal Pamphili, who became Pope Innocent X in 1644. After returning to Amsterdam in 1647, Weenix soon settled in Utrecht, where he was elected a commissioner of the painters’ guild in 1649. His pupils included, besides his son Jan (1640–1719), his nephew Melchior de Hondecoeter, and Nicolaes Berchem.

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