According to
Arnold Houbraken, Jan was the son of Lieven Hendriksze, an embroiderer (
borduurwerker), and was trained by Joris Verschoten. He was sent to
Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam at about the age of 10 for two full years. After that he began his career as an independent artist, at about the age of 12 in Leiden. He became something of a celebrity because of his talent at such a young age. Specifically, his copy of
Democriet & Herakliet by
Cornelis van Haarlem (
illustration), and a portrait of his mother Machtelt Jans van Noortzant, were admired. This attracted the attention of
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, around 1620, who bought a life-size painting of a young man reading by the light of a turf-fire. He gave this painting in turn to the English Ambassador, who presented it to
James I. This was the reason why in 1631, when Lievens was 24, he was invited to the British court. However a painting by Lievens in the Getty Museum of
Prince Charles Louis and his Tutor which must have been painted in Leiden is clearly signed and dated 1631, so the exact timing of his trip to England is open to doubt. When he returned from England via
Calais, he settled in
Antwerp, where he married Suzanna Colyn de Nole, the daughter of the sculptor Michiel Colyns, on 23 December 1638. In this period he won many commissions from royalty, mayors, and city halls. According to Houbraken, a
Continence of Scipio was painted for the Leiden city hall. . The sitting female allegory of Peace is being crowned by a woman in armor, while trampling the allegory of War under her feet. 1654 Lievens collaborated and shared a studio with
Rembrandt van Rijn in Leiden from about 1626 to 1631. Their competitive collaboration, represented in some two dozen paintings, drawings and etchings, was intimate enough to cause difficulties in the attribution of works from this period. Lievens showed talent for painting in a life-size scale, and his dramatic compositions suggest the influence of the
Caravaggisti. In
Constantijn Huygens' assessment, Lievens was more inventive, yet less expressive than Rembrandt. The two men split in 1631, when Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam and Lievens to England. In 1656 Rembrandt still owned paintings by his former friend. in a totally different setting. 1625 During his time in England Lievens painted a portrait for
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, and became influenced by the works of
Anthony van Dyck. Lievens worked in Antwerp, and cooperated with
Adriaen Brouwer. After being a court painter in The Hague and Berlin, he returned to Amsterdam in 1655. After his first wife died he married a sister of
Jan de Bray in 1648. After 1672, the "
Rampjaar," Lievens had increasing financial difficulties and his family voided all claims of inheritance on his death due to his debts.
Posthumous In 2022, a long-lost missing drawing by Lievens (last seen at auction in Frankfurt in 1888) was rediscovered and auctioned by
Christopher Bishop Fine Art for €1.35 million at
TEFAF Maastricht. ==Public collections==