Biography

Dutch engraver, draughtsman and painter. He was the eldest son of Harmen Jansz. Muller (1540-1617), the Amsterdam book printer, engraver and publisher. The family business, called De Vergulde Passer ('The gilded compasses'), was situated in Warmoesstraat, and Jan Muller worked there for many years. He may have been apprenticed to Hendrik Goltzius in Haarlem. Between 1594 and 1602 he is thought to have gone to Italy, where he stayed in Rome and Naples. He was related by marriage to the Dutch sculptor Adriaen de Vries, who was a pupil of Giambologna. He also maintained contacts with Bartholomeus Spranger and other artists in Prague, which under the rule of Emperor Rudolf II had become a flourishing centre of the arts. In 1602 he made an unsuccessful attempt to mediate on behalf of Rudolf II, who wanted to buy Lucas van Leyden's Last Judgement (Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden).

Though he made engravings based on his own designs, most seem to have been after works by Haarlem Mannerists such as Goltzius or by Prague artists, including de Vries and Hans von Aachen.

When Harmen Jansz. Muller died, he left the entire stock of his shop, including a number of copperplates, to his bachelor son Jan.