Jozef Marie Aloys Janssens de Varebeke (29 May 1854,

Sint-Niklaas Sint-Niklaas (; french: Saint-Nicolas, ) is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Sint-Niklaas proper and the towns of Belsele, Nieuwkerken-Waas, and . Sint-Nikl ...

- 29 June 1930,

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

) was a Belgian painter, known for his portraits and religious works.

Biography

Jozef Janssens was the eldest child of the industrialist and politician, , and his wife Marie-Angélique, née Beeckman (1834–1889). His father drew as a hobby, and numbered several artists among his friends, including

Jan Swerts Jan Swerts (25 December 1820, Antwerp - 11 August 1879, Marienbad) was a Belgium, Belgian painter of historical subjects and portraits who worked on many publicly funded commissions. He played a major role in introducing German Romanticism, Roma ...

and

Godfried Guffens Egide Godfried Guffens (22 July 1823 – 11 July 1901) was a Belgian painter. He is best known for his monumental religious and historical murals.gymnasium in his hometown, Jozef worked in his father's factory and then attended the

Jesuit college The Jesuits (Society of Jesus) in the Catholic Church have founded and managed a number of educational institutions, including the notable secondary schools, colleges and universities listed here. Some of these universities are in the United Stat ...

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. During this time, he also took drawing lessons from Swerts. In 1872, when his father received a visit from Franz Ittenbach and Karl Müller, two painters from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

, they saw Jozef's drawings and recommended that he undertake formal studies. These were begun with Ittenbach, at his studio in Düsseldorf. He worked there until late 1874. He also took professional advice from the religious artist,

Ernst Deger Ernst Deger (15 April 1809, Bockenem - 27 January 1885, Düsseldorf) was a German religious artist, in the style of the Nazarene movement. He is considered to be the main representative of Christian art in the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. Life ...

. Later, he worked with Guffens in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. In 1876, he went to Rome where, thanks to a recommendation from Ittenbach, he was able to study with Ludovico Seitz. From Rome, he would often visit

Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...

, where

Desiderius Lenz Peter Lenz (1832–1928), afterwards Desiderius Lenz, was a German artist who became a Benedictine monk. Together with Gabriel Wüger, he founded the Beuron Art School. Background Peter Lenz was born in 1832 in Haigerloch, Baden-Württemberg. F ...

, founder of the

Beuron Art School The Beuron art school was founded by a confederation of Benedictine monks in Germany in the late 19th century.''The Revival of Medieval Illumination: Nineteenth-Century Belgium Manuscripts and Illuminations from a European Perspective'' by Thomas C ...

, was painting the church tower; together with his associates Gabriel Wüger and . In 1880, he completed his studies there, and returned to Antwerp; establishing his own studio in 1884. He was married there, to Marie Lucie, née Hye-Hoys (1866–1950), and they had eight children. In addition to his canvases, from 1890 to 1910 he provided decorative paintings for the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

church in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, the

Beguine The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take forma ...

monastery in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

and the

Maredsous Abbey Maredsous Abbey is a Benedictine monastery at Maredsous, in the municipality of Anhée, Wallonia, Belgium. It is a founding member of the Annunciation Congregation of the Benedictine Confederation. The abbey was founded as a priory on 15 No ...

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

, as well as the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.Josef Janssens: ''Die sieben Schmerzen Mariens. Gemäldezyklus in der Kathedrale zu Antwerpen''. Gesellschaft für christliche Kunst, Munich, 1909 Many of his portraits were of clergymen; notably Popes

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

and

Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

, the

Archbishop of Mechelen In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

Désiré-Joseph Mercier Désiré Félicien François Joseph Mercier (21 November 1851 – 23 January 1926) was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a noted scholar. A Thomist scholar, he had several of his works translated into other European languages. H ...

, and the Bishop of Ghent,

Antoon Stillemans Antoon Stillemans (10 December 1832, Sint-Niklaas – 5 November 1916, Ghent) was for 26 years the twenty-fourth bishop of Ghent, in Belgium. Education Stillemans began studies at the St. Joseph Minor Seminary of Sint-Niklaas in 1846. In 1853 he ...

. In 1904, Pius X presented him with the

Order of St. Sylvester Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Sylvester Pope and Martyr ( la, Ordo Sancti Silvestri Papae, it, Ordine di San Silvestro Papa), sometimes referred to as the Sylvestrine Order, or the Pontifical Order of Pope Saint Sylvester, is one of five o ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he lived as a refugee in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where he made his living as a portrait painter. Among his subjects there were the physicist,

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...

and his daughter Eileen. Janssens-Veil

Hs younger brother,

Frans Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplomat ...

, was a Catholic priest and a scientist, involved in genetic research. He is credited with discovering

chromosomal crossover Chromosomal crossover, or crossing over, is the exchange of genetic material during sexual reproduction between two homologous chromosomes' non-sister chromatids that results in recombinant chromosomes. It is one of the final phases of geneti ...

References

External links

* Guy Janssens de Varebeke & Michel Verwilghen, ''Jozef Janssens, 1854-1930. Peintre de l'art religieux et maître du portrait'', 2020
Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janssens, Jozef 1854 births 1930 deaths Belgian painters Belgian portrait painters Religious artists People from Sint-Niklaas

Biography

References

Further reading

External links