She was born into the Van den Eynde family, a powerful and influential Neapolitan noble family of
Flemish origin. Her father was
Ferdinand van den Eynde, 1st Marquess of Castelnuovo, the son of
Jan van den Eynde, a wealthy merchant from
Antwerp who became one of the richest and most prominent men in
Naples. The Marquess Ferdinand married Olimpia Piccolomini, of the
House of Piccolomini, a nephew of
Cardinal Celio Piccolomini, by whom he had three daughters, Catherine, the eldest, Giovanna, the secondborn, and
Elizabeth. Jan van den Eynde was also the owner of the largest collection of paintings in Naples, which was bequeathed to his son upon his death. In 1674, the Marquess Ferdinand also inherited a sizable collection of 70 or 90 However, Marquess Ferdinand died that same year,
Luca Giordano, another longtime friend of Van den Eynde, took care himself of the inventory for Van den Eynde's inheritance. While drawing up the inventory, Giordano counted ten paintings executed by himself in Van den Eynde's collection. Among the paintings inherited by Giovanna, there were six paintings by Giordano and
Mattia Preti's ''
Belshazzar's Feast and The Banquet of Absalom''. ==Marriage==