SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Jan Miense Molenaer

The Dutch painter Jan Miense Molenaer, born and deceased in Haarlem, focused mainly on genre scenes, while also painting portraits and, more rarely, religious subjects. Trained in Frans Hals’s studio, he produced portraits, genre scenes and village festivities in his early work; Jacques Foucart also notes the influence of the styles of Frans and Dirck Hals in these works. In 1636, he married the painter Judith Leyster in Heemstede, near Haarlem; from 1648, he settled there again, while often staying in Haarlem.

According to Foucart, his style changed considerably during the 1640s, with Rembrandtesque chiaroscuro and rustic subjects associated with Adriaen van Ostade.

The Artist’s Studio, painted in oil on canvas and dated 1631, is held at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The series The Five Senses, dated 1637, is at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The Virginal Player, an oil painting on panel dated 1630–1640, is held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. An Allegory of Smell, oil on wood, 19.5 × 16 cm, is attributed to Molenaer, an attribution confirmed by Fred Meijer after examining the original on 24 October 2020.

This profile brings together identity references for Jan Miense Molenaer and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

Documented auction references

30auction references

7auction houses

15documented results with prices

Lempertz · DognyAuction · Genève Enchères · Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer · Schuler · Dobiaschofsky · Piguet

References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.

Works recorded at auction

Photograph : Piguet · Enlarge image ↗

Piguet

Scène galante

Oil on panel

Original catalogue wording

Scène galante
huile sur panneau

Catalogue period : 2025-06-05 — 2025-06-18

Published result : 1400 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 1500–2500

Jan Miense Molenaer

Documented auction references

Works recorded at auction

Scène galante

Nachfolger des 18.Jhs

Heitere Gesellschaft beim Pantoffelspiel.

Joueurs de cartes,

Zwei Grisaillen mit jeweils einer Dreiergruppe trinkender und rauchender Figuren

Bauernhochzeit

Allegory of the sense of smell

Bauernhochzeit

Landschaft mit Dorf und Bauernfest

Feiernde Bauerngesellschaft

Scène de taverne

Wirtshausstube mit spielenden und raufenden Bauern.

Musizierende Gesellschaft

Fête villageoise

Fête villageoise

Fête villageoise

Groupe d'enfants musiciens

Scène de taverne,

References excluded from statistics: attributions and special lots

Attribué à Jan Miense Molenaer — zugeschrieben Wirtshausszene

Attribué à Molenaer, Jan Miense — zugeschrieben Wirtshausszene

Villageois chantant

After

Die Schulstube

Attribué à Molenaer, Jan Miense — Zugeschrieben Portrait eines kleinen Mädchens mit Kopftuch

Attribué à Molenaer, Jan Miense — Zugeschrieben Portrait eines Knaben mit Hut

Attribué à Molenaer, Jan Miense — Zugeschrieben Portrait eines kleinen Mädchens mit Kopftuch

Attribué à Molenaer, Jan Miense — Zugeschrieben Portrait eines Knaben mit Hut

Suiveur de Jan Miense Molenaer — L'artisan,

Copy

Dans le goût de Jan Miense Molenaer — Scène de taverne

Sources and references

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