 His mother remarried to Cornelis Cock, who later became the father in law of the Antwerp portrait painter Cornelis de Vos.In 1596 Jan Wildens was registered at the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke as an apprentice of Pieter van der Hulst (I) (also known as 'Peter Verhulst' or 'Floris Verhulst'), (c. 1565 – c.1628), a minor painter from Mechelen.Wildens became a master of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1604.