Matthijs Balen was an 18th century painter from the Northern Netherlands.

Biography

According to the RKD he was a registered pupil of Arnold Houbraken

Arnold Houbraken

Arnold Houbraken was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of artists from the Dutch Golden Age. He had ten children. His son Jacobus Houbraken was an engraver of portraits and book illustrations, including books by his father...

, and like him, became a printmaker as well as a painter. He lived in The Hague from 1705-1715 and is known for Italianate landscapes, portraits, and historical allegories.

He was probably the son or grandson of the Dordrecht writer Mathias Balen

Mathias Balen

Mathias or Matthijs Jansz. Balen was a Dutch historian.-Biography:He first distinguished himself as a poet, but afterwards applied himself to historical researches, and in 1677 published a description of Dordrecht in two volumes, which is full of valuable matter. He died shortly after its...

, who wrote Beschryvinge der stad Dordrecht in 1677. Houbraken himself had been a pupil of Samuel van Hoogstraten and was friends with Romeyn de Hooghe

Romeyn de Hooghe

Romeyn de Hooghe was an important and prolific late Dutch Baroque, painter, sculptor, engraver and caricaturist.-Biography:...

, both of whom assisted the elder Balen with some poems and etchings for his book.