Reynst was born in
Amsterdam, the son of the merchant
Gerard Reynst of the
Reynst family, who in the year 1614 became the second
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, and Margrieta Nicquet, whose merchant brother
Jacques Nicquet was a fervent art collector. In 1625 Jan went to Venice where he collected antique statuary and Italian paintings and where he was able to purchase the collection - the so called
Reynst collection - of 230 sculptures and 140 paintings of the estate Andrea
Vendramin in 1629. After his death the Roman statues and Italian paintings by
Barocci,
Bassano,
Bellini,
Paris Bordone,
Pordenone,
Palma Vecchio Giorgione,
Lorenzo Lotto,
Parmigianino,
Guido Reni,
Giulio Romano,
Tintoretto,
Titian,
Andrea Schiavone,
Perugino,
Antonello da Messina and
Paolo Veronese were shipped to his brother in Amsterdam. In 1671 Jan Reynst (his son?) bought a house that housed a secret Catholic church (now the
Museum Amstelkring), planning to rent it out as storage space but instead realising he could make more money from charging Catholic worshippers to continue using their secret church. He died in
Venice. ==See also==