Jan van der Heyden (5 March 1637, Gorinchem – 28 March 1712, Amsterdam) was a Dutch Baroque-era painter, glass painter, draughtsman and printmaker. Van der Heyden was one of the first Dutch painters to specialize in townscapes and became one of the leading architectural painters of the Dutch Golden Age. He painted a number of still lifes in the beginning and at the end of his career.
Jan van der Heyden was also an engineer and inventor who made significant contributions to contemporary firefighting technology. Together with his brother Nicolaes, who was a hydraulic engineer, he invented an improvement of the fire hose in 1672. He modified the manual fire engine, reorganised the volunteer fire brigade (1685) and wrote and illustrated the first firefighting manual (Brandspuiten-boek). A comprehensive street lighting scheme for Amsterdam, designed and implemented by van der Heyden, remained in operation from 1669 until 1840 and was adopted as a model by many other towns and abroad. His father was by turns an oil mill owner, a grain merchant and a broker. The family moved to Amsterdam in 1646 and van der Heyden’s father acquired local citizenship. Jan van der Heyden himself would never acquire Amsterdam citizenship.
thumb|left|290px|View of [[Oudezijds Voorburgwal with the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam]]
Jan van der Heyden may have received his initial artistic training in the studio of a relative, perhaps his eldest brother, Goris van der Heyden, who made and sold mirrors. It is possible that his teacher was one of the most admired glass painters of the time, Jacob van der Ulft, who was also originally from Jan van der Heyden's hometown. Several examples of van der Heyden’s paintings on glass (verre eglomisé) have survived and probably date from this early part of his career.
In 1673 the two brothers received official appointments to manage the city’s fire-fighting equipment and organisation. The two officials appointments were sufficient to ensure the prosperity of the artist.
Jan van der Heyden died a wealthy man in 1712.
Work
General
thumb|290px|View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam
Van der Heyden was one of the first Dutch painters to dedicate most of his output to cityscapes and other depictions of groups of buildings. Recent scholarship suggests his approach transcended pure topographical documentation, incorporating systematic autobiographical elements and sophisticated compositional planning that positioned him as an innovative artistic strategist rather than merely a documentarian. In addition, he also painted approximately 40 pure landscapes, of which two on glass. At the end of his career he painted still lifes in indoor settings. Van der Heyden often painted country estates. Several views exist of a country estate owned by Joan Huydecoper II, the Amsterdam burgomaster. The inclusion of these discordant elements undermining the country idyll set van der Heyden apart from his contemporary Gerrit Berckheyde. Various of his compositions include out-of-place statuary, stray farm animals or even urban shepherdesses, which add a feeling of anomaly and contradiction. These elements contribute to the feeling of modernity typical for his works. Only one painting known as the Triumph of Mordecai (Staatliches Museum Schwerin), depicts a history scene. It is probably an early work, which, as behoves an architectural painter, gives much prominence to the buildings in the composition.
Despite the apparently naturalistic style, which was so detailed that every single brick was visible, the artist did not strive for topographical accuracy in his city views. Even in his depictions of recognizable sites he regularly adapted and rearranged the architecture and setting to fit his overall compositional goals. Topographical accuracy was clearly not his primary objective. Rather he strove to present an idealized vision of the world around him. Despite the attention to detail, Jan van der Heyden's primary aim was to achieve an overall harmony in his compositions. It is possible that van der Heyden achieved the details in his paintings with the aid of a magnifying glass or even a camera obscura, lenses and mirrors.
Still lifes
Jan van der Heyden painted still lifes in the beginning and at the end of his career. Nine of his still lifes survive. One of his earliest dated still lifes is a Still life with a bible (signed and dated 1664, Mauritshuis). This and other early still lifes typically depict a bible and other objects on a table with a carpet. These fortifications had been built during the Eighty Years War with Spain and had played an important role in achieving the first victories against the Spanish troops. They thus referenced the founding myths of the nation. Van der Heyden may also have selected this map as a reference to the recent hostilities with France. The same map is also included in two of his later still lifes. In the lower right of the painting is a large Protestant Bible opened to the end of Het Boeck der Psalmen (Book of Psalms) at the chapter entitled PROVERBIA / Spreuken / SALOMONIS (Solomon's Proverbs). It is likely that the artist intended to reference the messages in Solomon's Proverbs about wisdom, self-discipline and justice as well as the vanitas message, as one of the Proverbs states that only righteousness can deliver from death.
thumb|250px|Room Corner with Curiosities
Van der Heyden stopped painting still lifes around 1670 only to return to the subject in the last two years of his life. The motifs, designs and themes in his later still lifes are the same as those of his early still lifes but their execution is very different, much drier.