Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove was born in The Hague on 28th October 1790. Learning his art firstly from his father, Hubertus van Hove (b.1765), and Johannes Hendricus Adrianus Albertus Breckenheijmer (1772-1856), B. J. van Hove enrolled as a pupil at The Hague Academy of Fine Art in 1812. Later he became associated with ‘The Pulchri Studio’ in The Hague.

It was as a decorator of theatre interiors that he first became known, but his chief interest was painting townscapes of Holland. In 1825, he held an exhibition in Haarlem and between 1827-1878 he held several exhibitions in Amsterdam and The Hague. Occasionally he painted church interiors, but it was the architecture of the buildings and the relationship of the people who built and used them that obviously fascinate him.

It was during the 1830’s that he began teaching at the Hague Academy, and many of the most famous names of the nineteenth century Dutch School received his guidance including amongst others Johannes Bosboom (1817-1891), Johannes Josephus Destree (1827-1888), Hubertus van Hove Jnr (1814-1864), Johannes Hubertus van Hove Jnr (1827-1881), Everhardus Koster (1817-1892), Charles Henri Joseph Leickert (1818-1907), Johann Anthonie Balthasar Stroebel (1821-1905), Salomon Leonardus Verveer (1813-1876), Johannes Weissenbruch (1824-1903).

His works can be found in museums in: Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum; Delft, Stedelijk Museum; Haarlem; The Hague; Nijmegen; Otterlo; Rotterdam and Utrecht, Central Museum.