Jan Hendrik Matthijssen was a draftsman, portrait painter and valet to King Lodewijk Napoleon.

In 1808 the surname was written as Mattyssen. After moving to Leeuwarden, it eventually became Matthijssen

At the age of 35, he settled in Leeuwarden after the fall of the Kingdom of Holland in 1812 and devoted himself entirely to art until his death in 1855. He taught and practiced the visual arts and made portraits, cityscapes, silhouettes and miniatures.

Three of his children succeed him as a painter. One daughter married a painter and another daughter had a brother-in-law as a painter