Jan Hendrik van Grootveld (1808 - 1855)

Jan Hendrik van Grootveld

Jan Hendrik van Grootveld is a Dutch painter and draftsman. He attended evening classes at the City Academy of Drawing and Painting in Den Bosch.

Many of van Grootveld's paintings of pub-goers playing cards, smoking, drinking, dancing and kissing have survived. He drew inspiration for these paintings from memories of his youth, as his mother at one time kept a café for extra income. He also picked up the nineteenth-century Western European Romanticism trend, depicting candlelit scenes. He was not limited to bar guests, but also painted peasant families, journeymen, markets and shops. In addition, his works with river and cityscapes are known, and some paintings show a peasant's house or a church in the background.