Biography

Netherlandish painter, active in Enkhuizen. He is the oldest Enkhuizen painter known to us, whose work can be traced from 1593 to 1618. About thirty paintings of his hand have been identified.

Little is known about his life. It is supposed that he received his training in Amsterdam and settled in Enkhuizen around 1593. The work of Claesz. is characteristic of the transition from the 16th to the 17th century, immediately prior to the work of artists such as Frans Hals in Haarlem and Cornelis van der Voort (c. 1576-1624) in Amsterdam. Part of his work consists of portraits of children and as such Jan Claesz. is one of the most important pioneers of the Dutch genre of children's portraits.