Wijnants, Jan

Wijnants was probably born in Haarlem; his year of birth is contested but is probably ca. 1630/1635. His father was probably the art dealer Jan Wijnants. Dirck Wijntrack was an important early influence on his work and there is evidence that the two artists worked together during the 1650s. Early paintings often feature brick farm buildings and cottages and over time the buildings became less central to the composition and were placed in the middle distance. Most of his later paintings are landscapes, particularly dunescapes based on the broad ridge of sand dunes near Haarlem. His later paintings also often include stylized foliage and a blasted elm or oak tree dominating the foreground, as in "Hawking Party with a Falconer" (1666). Wijnants also painting Italianate landscapes, although he never travelled to Italy himself, and he is the painter of the topographical "View of the Herengracht, Amsterdam" (ca. 1661). His work was very appealing to English collectors of the 18th century and influenced 18th- and 19th-century artists such as François Boucher, Thomas Gainsborough, and John Crome.