Jan Baptist van der Meiren was a Flemish painter specializing in small, usually animated landscapes, harbour views and battle scenes with numerous figures. Aside from time spent in Vienna in 1695, he worked all of his career in Antwerp.

Jan Baptist van der Meiren was born in Antwerp on 15 December 1664. There are no details on his training. He was admitted as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1685. Despite a lack of documentary evidence, some historians have speculated that he may have visited Italy since his work displays many Italianizing elements.

Aside from time spent in Vienna in 1695, he worked all of his career in Antwerp. He married Catharina Tassaert in 1690. He took on Jasper Broers as a pupil in 1695. When in 1700 he was elected dean of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke, he paid a sum of 300 guilders to be excused from the execution of this charge.

Jan Baptist van der Meiren was very successful working in the established Flemish genres and enjoyed the international patronage of prominent collectors such as Elisabeth Farnese. His compositions commanded high prices at the time.

The date of his death is not clear but the assumption is that he must have died between 1700 and 1708. If the attribution to van der Meiren of a composition dated 1736 in the collection of the Museum of Western and Oriental Art in Kyiv is correct it points to a death date in or after 1736.