Jan Anton van der Baren (1615/16-1686)

• Was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, priest and museum curator active in Brussels and Vienna.
• Jan Anton van der Baren was likely born in Brussels.
• He became court chaplain to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, who resided in Brussels.
• He accompanied the Archduke on his return to Vienna in 1656 and remained there until his death. 

• In Vienna he became director of the picture gallery of the Archduke.

• David Teniers the Younger, who was the director of the Archduke’s collection while it was still in Brussels, painted the famous Archduke Leopold Willem in his gallery at Brussels.

• The painting includes a portrait of van der Baren (he is the third man from the right).

• After the Archduke’s death in 1662, van der Baren continued to hold the offices of court chaplain and director of the picture gallery under Emperor Leopold I.

• He died on 30 or 31 December 1686 in Vienna.

• There are 14 paintings accepted as authentic, some of them signed and dated.

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