He studied drawing with Jordanus Hoorn in Amstersfoort, before following lessons from Pieter Gerardus van Os.

[1] He traveled in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland before becoming a member of the Royal Academy of Art in Amsterdam.

[1] He won an honorable mention for a landscape in a competition at Felix Meritis in 1818.

[1] In 1832, Jan became a member of the artist society Arti Sacrum in Rotterdam.

[1] Noteworthy among his pupils were Jacobus Theodorus Abels and Remigius Adrianus Haanen.