Jan Six was an important cultural figure in the Dutch Golden Age. The son of a well-to-do merchant family Six, Jan studied liberal arts and law in Leiden in 1634. He became the son-in-law of the mayor of Amsterdam, Nicolaes Tulp, in 1655, when he married Tulp's daughter Margaretha. Thanks to his father-in-law, he became magistrate of family law and various other appointments on the city council, eventually becoming mayor of Amsterdam himself in 1691 at the ripe age of 73.

Six was good friends with the poet Joost van den Vondel and the painter Rembrandt van Rijn, during the forties. Six remained a devotee of the arts all his life and wrote plays himself, the most famous being Medea, published in 1648 (with an etching by Rembrandt), and Onschult (Innocence) in 1662. In the same year the Dutch translation of Baldassarre Castiglione's Il libro del Cortegiano was dedicated to Six.

His collection of paintings, drawings, etchings, and other artifacts (including many from his wife's family) were popular in his lifetime. This collection was eventually handed down the generations and the top pieces are lent to the Rijksmuseum several months every other year.... More • http://en.wikipedia. ... ki/Jan_Six View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Playwrights • Statesmen • Amsterdam • Capricorn • Drama • Enlightenment • January 14 • Netherlands • Painting • Writers • 17th Century • People