Jan Six

Jan Six was born in Amsterdam on 14 January 1618 into a merchant family that owned a silk-dyeing business. He worked in the family firm until the early 1650s, but his heart was in the arts. He wrote poetry and plays and collected paintings, drawings and prints.

Rembrandt's friend

In the 1640s Six was a close friend of Rembrandt. In 1647 Rembrandt made an etching that presents him as an art lover. A year later Six published his best-known play, Medea, with an etching by Rembrandt. Six was not only the painter's friend but also one of his patrons. In 1654 came the painted Portrait of Jan Six. The painting still belongs to the Six family.

A late career

In 1655 he married Margaretha Tulp, daughter of the physician and burgomaster Nicolaes Tulp. The marriage opened doors: with his father-in-law's help Six held various city posts, including magistrate for marriage cases. He became burgomaster only much later. In 1691, aged 73, he became one of Amsterdam's four ruling burgomasters. He died on 28 May 1700, aged 82.

The Six Collection

What Jan Six collected grew into the Six Collection. Through inheritances and a marriage in 1822, two family collections were combined. It is still managed by the family, in a house on the Amstel, and every other year its highlights are shown at the Rijksmuseum for a few months. So the portrait his friend Rembrandt painted nearly four centuries ago is still owned by the same family.