Jan Philip van Thielen was born into an aristocratic family and could count two of the most important Flemish history painters of his times - Theodoor Rombouts and Erasmus Quellinus the Younger - among his in-laws. Van Thielen began his artistic training under Th. Rombouts in Antwerp and continued under Daniel Seghers. He became a master of the Antwerp guild of Saint Luke in 1641 and his daughter continued the family tradition of still life painting.

Van Thielen specialized in painting floral still lifes and garlands. This form of composition, featuring a garland surrounding a central religious or mythological scene, was developed in Antwerp in the early 17th century by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick van Bale...