Jan Janssens
Jan Janssens
Life
Jan Janssens was born in Ghent in 1590 as the son of Johannes Govaert Janssens. There is no information available about his training. He was in
On 29 August 1623, he married Petronilla de Rop with whom he had 6 children. In 1640, he was commissioned by the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Radiën to make a work for the
Jan Janssens died in Ghent around 1650. His house, De Pijl (The Arrow), is sold.[6]
Work
Jan Janssens’ known work is fairly limited.[7] During his stay in Italy Janssens came into contact with Dutch painters like Dirck van Baburen, Gerard van Honthorst and Hendrick ter Brugghen. These Dutch artists were followers of the style of Caravaggio and are known as the Dutch or Utrecht Caravaggisti, after their main centre in Utrecht, where there was still a sizeable and prosperous Catholic population. Their work influenced him stylistically.[8] He was also influenced by the work of Bartolomeo Manfredi. Janssens took the Caravaggio style back with him to Ghent and he is considered to be one of the Ghent Caravaggisti along with Antoon van den Heuvel and Melchior de la Mars. He worked principally on commissions for altarpieces.[6]
His chief subject matter are biblical and, to a lesser extent, mythological themes painted in a large format.[2] His favourite themes are Christ crowned with thorns and the mocking of Christ. He also returned various times to the theme of the Caritas Romana, even making one version (1620-1625, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando[9]) based very closely on a work by Dirck van Baburen on the same theme.
He also painted various versions of the Resurrection of Christ. The principal version is the one in the St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges. In this composition he shows his originality and his independence of the Utrecht Caravaggisti and other Caravaggisti.[7] The inspiration for the work may be an anonymous Italian Mannerist drawing.[10] In this work he also made an effort to depict the materials such as the weapons and armour, beards, fabrics, fur and drums in a very realistic manner. He also distanced himself from the Utrecht Caravaggisti by not giving the figures excessive expressions but rather realistic emotional expressions.[7]
Janssens' work conforms to the prescriptions of the
One of his masterpieces is The Martyrdom of
References
- ^ Name variations: Johannes Janssens and Joannes Janssens
- ^ a b Jan Janssens at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
- ^ Jan Janssens on the website of the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent
- ^ Anna Orlando, Schede in Lights and Shadows. Caravaggism in Europe, catalogo della mostra, Cesare Lampronti Gallery, London, 2015, pp. 76-77
- ^ Hans Vlieghe. "Janssens, Jan." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 23 Dec. 2015
- ^ a b c d e f g Jan Janssens Archived 2014-11-10 at the Wayback Machine at De Vlaamse Kunstcollectie
- ^ a b c Denis Coekelberghs, La résurrection d’une Résurrection. Un tableau de Jan Janssens (1643 ?) retrouvé, 3 April 2009, in: La Tribune de l'Art (in French)
- ^ Jan Janssens on the website of the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent
- ^ Real Academia de BBAA de San Fernando. "Janssens, Jan". Academia Colecciones (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ Denis Coekelberghs, Un dessin maniériste italien, source d’inspiration de Jan Janssens et de Gérard Seghers, 1 December 2011, in: La Tribune de l'Art (in French)
Further reading
- D. Roggen, H. Pauwels, A. de Schryver, Het Caravaggisme te Gent, Gentse Bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis 12 (1949-1950), p. 255-321 (in Dutch)
- D. Roggen, H. Pauwels, Nog bij Het Caravaggisme te Gent. Gentse Bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis 14 (1953), p. 201-205 (in Dutch)
External links
- Media related to Jan Janssens at Wikimedia Commons