Daniël Jordens was born in Batavia. Initially, he was trained for the judiciary, but he eventually chose to become a painter and took lessons at the Academy in The Hague for three years. He then lived in Deventer, Angerlo and then in The Hague. He mainly painted impressionistic lake scenes and polder landscapes in the vicinity of The Hague and in 'watery places' such as Noorden and Oude Wetering. One of his teachers was C.J. Roermeester.