Johannes Tavenraat was a Dutch painter, draftsman, engraver and lithographer. He mainly produced landscapes and hunting scenes and worked in the romantic tradition.

Tavenraat was actually destined to trade in the business of his father, who was a cloth dyer. At the age of 30, however, he chose a career as a painter. He was a pupil of Cornelis Bakker at the drawing society 'Hierdoor tot Hooger' in Rotterdam. In 1839 he devoted himself entirely to painting.

In 1841 he married Anna Catharina van Dijck in Belgium. He then lived there from 1842 to 1846. Between 1846 and 1860 he worked in Materborn near Kleve . From there he made several trips to, among others, Moravia and Bohemia. He probably attended the painting school of Barend Cornelis Koekkoek in Kleve. However, he did not follow his detailed method, but used a much looser palette. His works received quite a lot of criticism, but since he was wealthy and did not have to live on the proceeds of his art, he did not care much about it. He returned to Rotterdam in 1860.