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Portrait of Jan Weenix Photo by Chabert, Graficus

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Jan Weenix

Jan Weenix or Joannis Wenix was a Dutch painter. He was trained by his father, Jan Baptist Weenix, together with his cousin Melchior d’Hondecoeter. Like his father, he painted various subjects, but is mostly known for his paintings of dead game and hunting scenes.

Many paintings in this genre were formerly ascribed to the elder Weenix, but are now generally considered to be the work of the son. Let’s take a look at some of the most amazing facts about him;

1.Jan Weenix was born in Amsterdam

Jan Weenix was born in Amsterdam according to his notice of marriage in 1679 but his date of birth is not exactly known as the baptismal record of this catholic church did not survive. Between 1643 and 1647 his father (Jan Baptist) worked in Italy, but the family moved to Utrecht around 1649.

His father subsequently moved into a castle near Vleuten, but died rather young in 1659. By the age of twenty Jan Weenix rivalled and later surpassed his father in breadth of treatment and richness of colour. Jan Weenix was a member of the Utrecht guild of painters in 1664 and 1668.

2.He spent his early childhood in Amsterdam without his father

Portrait of Jan Weenix Photo by Chabert, Graficus

He spent his early childhood in Amsterdam without his father, who left for an artistic sojourn in Italy just fourteen months after Jan鈥檚 birth. Jan Baptist returned to Amsterdam in 1647, and shortly thereafter the family moved to Utrecht.

By 1657 they had settled in a large house outside of the city, the 鈥淗uis ter Mey,鈥� where the younger Jan became a pupil in his father鈥檚 studio.After Weenix joined the Utrecht painter鈥檚 guild in 1664, he painted Italianate genre scenes in the manner of his father. 

3.He painted five fixed paintings on canvas for Jacob de Granada which became very popular

In 1697 he painted a portrait of Peter the Great, visiting the Republic to study shipbuilding, science, and the art of fortification building. In Amsterdam, Weenix was frequently employed to decorate private houses with wall-paintings on canvas.

He painted five fixed paintings or wallpaper on canvas for Jacob de Granada; these became very popular in the second half of the 18th century when nature and Rousseau were fashionable and copied. The paintings survived in the house until 1922.

4.He also painted 12 large hunting pictures for a castle of Bensberg

Jan Weenix After The Hunt Photo sourced from

Between 1702 and 1712 Weenix was occupied with an important series of twelve large hunting pictures for the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm’s castle of Bensberg, near Cologne. Also Eglon van der Neer, Rachel Ruysch, Adriaen van der Werff had a very good relationship with the court. 

He was paid well or knighted as ridder and probably meeting an international crowd of artists and musicians.The treasury was empty when Jan Wellem, as he was called in D眉sseldorf, died. Most of this collection is now at the Munich Gallery. 

5.Several poems have been devoted to him

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe devoted a poem to Weenix’s technique, in which he stated that Weenix equaled and even surpassed nature in his treatment of animal textures such as hair, feathers and claws. Many of his best works are to be found in English private collections.

The National Gallery, London has two paintings, including “A Deerhound with Dead Game and Implements of the Chase”, while the Wallace Collection (also in London) has thirteen paintings, including “Flowers on a Fountain with a Peacock.”

6.Outside the UK, He is well represented in the galleries of several cities 

Outside the United Kingdom, Jan Weenix is well represented in the galleries of several cities including; Amsterdam, The Hague, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Berlin, Lisbon and 麻豆APP. A medium-sized Weenix, “Still Life with Dead Game”, hangs in the dining room of the Filoli estate in California.

A certain “Still Life with Hunting Trophies” hangs in the Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC, and a large “Peacock with Hunting Trophies” hangs in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian. “Boy with Toys, Pet Monkey and a Turkey” is in the Kresge Art Museum. “Still Life with Dead Hare” in the Museum of Western and Oriental Art in Kyiv.

7.He was married to Pieternella Backers and together they had 13 children

In 1679, Jan Weenix married the 20-year-old Pieternella Backers (he told the schepen he was “around thirty”). Between 1680 and 1700, the couple had 13 children who were baptized in a hidden church.

At least four were sons 鈥揓an Baptista (1680-), Willem Ignatius (1690-1764), Jacobus (1693-), Nicolaes Andreas (1699-1757) 鈥� and two were daughters: Sara and Maria Weenix (1697鈥�1774).They inherited him after his demise, with some becoming artists and painters like him. 

8.He did several works which are stored in several institutions around the world

Jan Weenix – Hunting Still Life Photo sourced from

He did several works which are stored in several institutions around the world. They include; A ruined Colonnade and Figures by Harbour stored in Glaslow Museum Resource Centre, The Intruder: Dead Game, Live Poultry and a Dog- Victoria and Alberty Museum, A Vase of Flowers- The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology. 

Others include; Still Life- Temple News am House, Leeds Museum and Gallery, Flowers on a Fountain with a Peacock – The Wallace collection, Still Life of a Dead Game in a Landscape with Huntsman -National Trust, Powis castle. 

9.His artist career consisted of three phases

His artist career consisted of three phases; The first encompasses the 1660s when as a young artist, he Italianate genre scenes in the style of his father Jan Baptists Wennix. After 1670, there followed a hiatus of about 10 years when little is known about him. 

In his last and most renowned phase, he painted the numerous still-lifes of dead game, flowers and sanctuary upon which his reputation rests. The principal problem posed by Jan Weenix’s first phase lies in distinguishing his works from those of his father. 

10.He died aged around 77 on 19th September 1719 in Amsterdam, Netherlands

He died aged around 77 on 19th September 1719 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Jan Weenix lived most of his life in a house across the Mint Tower and was buried in Nieuwezijds Kapel a nearby catholic church on the Rokin in Amsterdam.

His widow and daughters stayed in the masonry business, selling stones and tiles. Weenix’ pupils were his daughter Maria Weenix and Dirk Valkenburg.He is remembered as one of the best painters in the Netherlands.