Jan Weenix, a famous representative of the Dutch "Golden Age", was born at Amsterdam in 1642. However, his date of birth is not fully assured - when Jan Weenix married Pieternella Backers in 1679, he stated he was "roundabout 30".
Jan Weenix was born son of a family of painters. His father Jan Baptist Weenix was a famous painter and took care of his son's education. The young boy learned together with his cousin Melchior de Hondecoeter, who would also become a famous painter.
Unlike his father, he never traveled to Italy, but still, next to portrays and genre scenes, Jan Weenix also preferred italicizing scenes. Additionally, he was extensively occupied with still lives showing dead game, flowers and other animals. In the genre of hunting still lives, Jan Weenix showed all his talent, which later research also noticed, as the attribution of many works was changed from Jan Baptist Weenix to his son Jan Weenix.
Jan Weenix was mostly active in Amsterdam, however, the Utrecht painters' gild also listed him as master in 1664 and 1668. Works by Jan Weenix were extremely popular with the upper class: A Spanish merchant who had made a fortune with sugar cane plantations in South Africa, commissioned Jan Weenix to embellish his private house near the Admiralty of Amsterdam at the end of the century. The five large tapestries that Jan Weenix made for the house (on display until 1921), were especially popular with the public in the second half of the 18th century and substantially contributed to Jan Weenix posthumous fame. Between 1702 and 1712 Jan Weenix executed another large commission and painted 12 hunting scenes for Bensberg Palace near Cologne.
In 1719 Jan Weenix died in Amsterdam.