Jan Rijlaarsdam (1911-2008) was born in Nieuwkoop, Holland in 1911. He started painting as a young man having attended the Amsterdam Academy of Art. For many years he lived in Hilversum and is regarded as belonging to the "Het Gooi" Artist's Association and the "Het Gooi" school of art. Student of A.G. Hulshof Pol, a wellknown painter and art teacher 1883-1957. Rijlaarsdam also spent a considerable amount of time in Belgium and France. The buildings and street life of Paris were of particular interest to him.