• Was a painter and engraver of German origin.
• He settled in Norwich, England and by 1720 was working on a series of portraits of members of prominent local families.
• He is recorded as living in Hog Hill in the city in 1729 when he held a raffle, with three of his pictures as prizes.
• Some of his early works are signed "D. Heins"; the "D" is thought to stand for "Dietrich", the German form of "Theodore".
• He monopolised civic portraiture in Norwich until 1746.
• Heins painted two portraits of the Hanoverian composer and emigre to England, Handel.
• Heins also depicted allegorical and historical subjects and candle-light scenes, and painted genre pieces.
• In October 1745, the Gentleman's Magazine published a poem called "Lines on seeing some portraits of the celebrated Mr. Heyns of Norwich".
• Joseph Strutt, in his Biographical Dictionary of Engravers (1786), notes that Heins reproduced some of his portraits in mezzotint, and that he was also said to have etched a few plates.
