Flemish painter, draughtsman and collector. He was apprenticed to Jan Mertens on 11 January 1625 and became a master in the Brussels painters' guild on 3 May 1634.

On 10 July 1636 he married Marie Sampels, who bore him eight children. Besides his son Jan Baptist d'Arthois (b 1638) and his brother Nicolaes d'Arthois (b 1617), Jacques had six pupils; one of them, Cornelis van Empel, came from Mechelen, indicating that d'Arthois's fame extended beyond his native city. He was made chartered tapestry cartoon designer of the city of Brussels in 1655.

At the time of his death he owned several houses and a substantial paintings collection, though an expansive lifestyle had left him severely in debt.

D'Arthois, the leading figure of the Brussels landscape school of the second half of the 17th century, is best known as the painter of the Forêt de Soignes, where one of his houses was located. His painted and drawn landscapes, with their bushes, ponds, hollow paths, clay banks and sandy hills, are dominated by tall trees crowned with luxuriant foliage (e.g. Wooded Landscape with Flock, Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.).

Powerful colour contrast in the paintings, introduced all too often at the expense of nuance, is developed mainly within the framework of the traditional Flemish brown-green-blue scheme. The brushwork in his large compositions follows the supple lines of the vegetation, employing a breadth and boldness of touch that suggest some influence of Rubens.

A number of smaller compositions feature more meticulous brushwork and a subtler, more varied use of colour. Three of d'Arthois's landscape paintings bear the monogram of David Teniers (ii), who painted the figures, and eight were engraved by Wenceslas Hollar (1648-52; Hollstein: Dut. & Flem., ix, p. 70).