Jan de Baen was born on 20 February 1633 in Haarlem, Holland, Dutch Republic.

[1] After his parents died, when he was a child, he lived with his uncle Hinderk Pyman (or Piemans) in Emden.

Jan de Baen received his first painting lessons from his uncle, who was a painter himself.

[1] In his biographical sketch of Jan de Baen, Houbraken claims that he taught his son Jacobus to paint, who died at 27.

[1] The German Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1885–1892) states that his large reputation during his life was not justified by his "characterless, rigid, and unattractively coloured images".