Jan van Goyen
1596 - 1656
Jan Josephsz. van Goyen was one of the main pioneers of naturalistic landscape in early 17th-century Holland. His many drawings show that he travelled extensively in Holland and beyond. In 1634 he is recorded painting in Haarlem, in the house of Isaac, the brother of Salomon van Ruysdael, who was another of the pioneers of realistic landscape painting in the north Netherlands.
Van Goyen was born at Leiden, and trained in Haarlem with Esaias van de Velde. After returning to Leiden he moved to The Hague in 1631, where he chiefly worked until his death. His earliest dated painting is from 1620.
His daughter married his pupil Jan Steen, the famous painter of genre scenes, in 1649.
Text © The National Gallery, London, 2025
