Portrait of a young gentleman, half-length, in a burgundy doublet with slashed sleeves and a sash, a feathered cap in his right hand

The artist was the nephew of Daniel Mijtens I, and after 634 probably trained with his uncle, who had by then returned to The Hague; Jan married Daniel's daughter Anna in 1642. In 1639 he had been admitted to The Hague's guild of painters, of which he became a governor in 1656. In the latter year he helped to found the painters' society De Pictura, becoming its governor in 1667-8, and from 1669-70 its dean. Throughout his career, Mijtens worked as a portrait painter in The Hague, receiving commissions from prominent citizens, members of the nobility and high-placed government officials as well as from the stadholder's circle.