Jan Philip van Thielen (Mechelen 1618 - Booischot 1667)

Of noble birth, Jan Philip van Thielen, a specialist painter of flowers, was born in Mechelen, the son of Libertus van Thielen, Lord of Couwenberg, and Anna Rigouts. He enrolled as a pupil of Theodoor Rombouts (1597-1637), his brother-in-law, in Antwerp in 1631/32 and became a master in the guild ten years later.²²P. Rombouts and T. van Lerius, De Liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde, ondere zinspreuk: ‘Wt Ionsten Versaemt’, 2 vols., Antwerp/The Hague 1864-76, II, pp. 29, 128, 135. How long he remained with Rombouts is not clear; Cornelis de Bie states that he was the first pupil of the Jesuit Daniël Seghers (1590-1661), who had been active in Antwerp since 1627. Papenbroeck states that Van Thielen had come to Antwerp with the intention of being taught by Seghers, who could not refuse to take him on because of his noble birth.³³F.H. Mertens and E. Buschmann (eds.), Annales Antverpienses ab urbe condita ad annum M.DCC..., 5 vols., Antwerp 1845-48, V, p. 220. Perhaps he enrolled with Rombouts for form’s sake and so that he could lodge in his house.

Van Thielen married Francesca Hemelaer, before he became a master, in 1639; he thus became a brother-in-law of Erasmus Quellinus II (1607-1678). From that union, there were nine children; three of his daughters became still-life painters.⁴⁴C. de Bie, Het gulden cabinet van de edel vrij schilder const, inhoudende den lof vande vermartste schilders, architecte, beldtowers ende plaetsnijders van deze eeuwe, Antwerp s.a. (1662), pp. 347-48; A. van der Willigen and F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, pp. 194-95. Van Thielen remained active in Antwerp until 1660 when, presumably on the death of his father, he inherited the title and estate at Booischot, for in that year he applied to be a foreign citizen of Antwerp and joined the Mechelen guild of St Luke on 14 October. In his early works he sometimes added his mother’s maiden name to his signature and, after 1660, he occasionally appended his title, ‘Heere van Couwen Berche’, to it.⁵⁵De Bruyn in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, 34 vols., Basingstoke 1996, XXX, p. 730.

His most frequent collaborator was his brother-in-law, Erasmus Quellinus II, who owned one of his paintings at his death.⁶⁶E. Duverger, Fontes historiae Artis Neerlandicae Bronnen voor de Kunstgeschiedenis van de Nederlanden: Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Antwerpse kunstinventarissen uit de zeventiende eeuw, 13 vols., Brussels 1984-2004, X, p. 348. His portrait by Quellinus⁷⁷Anonymous sale, London (Christie’s), 8 December 2005, no. 1, oil on paper, 19.4 x 14.9 cm; the sitter is shown without a sword and baldric. was engraved by Richard Collin and published in Cornelis de Bie’s Het gulden cabinet, 1662. His production was not extensive; his work is rarely listed in the Antwerp inventories published by Duverger or in the correspondence of the dealers Musson and Forchondt, published by Denucé.

REFERENCES
C. de Bie, Het gulden cabinet van de edel vrij schilder const, inhoudende den lof vande vermartste schilders, architecte, beldtowers ende plaetsnijders van deze eeuwe, Antwerp s.a. [1662], pp. 344-46; F.J. van den Branden, Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool, 3 vols., Antwerp 1883, III, pp. 152-53