Jan Miense Molenaer - self portrait 1640

Jan Miense Molenaer (1610 – buried 19 September 1668) was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

genre painter whose style was a precursor to Jan Steen's work during

Dutch Golden Age painting Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

. He shared a studio with his wife,

Judith Leyster Judith Jans Leyster (also Leijster; baptised July 28, 1609Molenaer, JudithNational Gallery of Art website. Accessed February 1, 2014. – February 10, 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, portraits, and still lifes. Her work wa ...

, also a genre painter, as well as a portraitist and painter of still-life. Both Molenaer and Leyster may have been pupils of

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

Biography

Molenaer was born and died in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

. He achieved a style close to Hals' early on in his career, but later developed a style like that of Dutch genre painter, Adriaen van Ostade. His genre works often depicted players of music, such as his ''The Music Makers'' ( Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest), ''The Duet'' (

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in ...

), or ''Family Making Music'' (

Frans Hals Museum The Frans Hals Museum (formerly ''Stedelijk Museum van Haarlem'') is a museum in the North Holland city of Haarlem, the Netherlands, founded in 1862, known as the Art Museum of Haarlem. Its collection is based on the city's own rich collection, b ...

). He also depicted Taverns and the activities of card games or games of the times such as ''La main chaude'', or in Dutch, ', which literally means clapping hands. Molenaer also cleverly depicted biblical stories in his own time and surroundings, such as representing a scene from Peter's Gospel set in a Dutch Tavern in '' The Denying of Peter'' (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest).

Selected works

Jan Miense Molenaer - Two Boys and a Girl Making Music - WGA16091

*1629 – ''The Dentist'', Oil on panel, ( North Carolina Museum of Art,

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) *1629 – ''Two Boys and a Girl Making Music'', Oil on canvas, (

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) *1630 – '' A Quack and His Assistant'', Oil on canvas, (Private Collection) *1630 – ''The Duet'', Oil on canvas, (

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

) *1630/32 – ''A Young Man playing a Theorbo and a Young Woman playing a Cittern'', Oil on canvas, (

) *1631 – ''Painter in His Studio, Painting a Musical Company'', Oil on canvas, ( Staatliche Museen,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) *1633 – ''Allegory of Vanity'', Oil on canvas, (

Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

, Toledo) *1633 – ''Allegory of Marital Fidelity'', Oil on canvas, (

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the supp ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

) *1633/35 – '' Battle Between Carnival and Lent'', Oil on wood, ( Indianapolis Museum of Art,

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

) *1635 – ''Card Players'', Oil on panel, ( Currier Museum of Art,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

) *1635 – ''Young Smoker'', Oil on panel, ( Accademia Carrara,

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

) *1635 – ''Family Making Music'', Oil on panel, (

) *1636 – ''The Denying of Peter'', Oil on canvas, ( Museum of Fine Arts,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) *1640s – ''Woman Holding a Jug'', Oil on panel, ( Museum of Fine Arts,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

)

References

External links

wga.hu
List of painters in the Web Gallery of Art
Political Iconography in a Painting by Jan Miense MolenaerWorks and literature on Jan Miense Molenaer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molenaer, Jan Miense 1610 births 1668 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Dutch genre painters Painters from Haarlem