Jan JanssensJan Janssens
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

(August 1590 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 ...

– after 1650) was a

Flemish Baroque painter Flemish Baroque painting refers to the art produced in the Southern Netherlands during Spanish control in the 16th and 17th centuries. The period roughly begins when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south with ...

and draftsman who is considered to be the most important of the so-called Ghent

Caravaggisti The Caravaggisti (or the "Caravagesques") were stylistic followers of the late 16th-century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. His influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from Mannerism was profound. Caravaggio never establish ...

.Jan Janssens
on the website of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent The Museum of Fine Arts ( nl, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, MSK) an art museum in Ghent, Belgium, is situated at the East side of the Citadelpark (near the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst). The museum's collection consists of some 9000 artworks ...

These Caravaggisti were part of an international movement of European artists who interpreted the work of Caravaggio and the followers of Caravaggio in a personal manner.Anna Orlando, ''Schede in Lights and Shadows. Caravaggism in Europe, catalogo della mostra, Cesare Lampronti Gallery, London, 2015''
pp. 76-77 Janssens

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

s and other compositions offering very realistic representations of religious motifs adorn many churches in and around Ghent.Hans Vlieghe. "Janssens, Jan." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 23 Dec. 2015 He also worked on commissions for international patrons.Jan Janssens
at De Vlaamse Kunstcollectie

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

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in the period 1619-1620. Janssens returned to Ghent in 1621 and was admitted to the Ghent

Guild of St. Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

as a master. From 1634-1635 and in 1646 Janssens was dean of the Ghent Guild of St. Luke. Jan Janssens (Attr

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

Saint Bavo Cathedral Saint Bavo's Cathedral, also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral ( nl, Sint Baafskathedraal), is a cathedral of the Catholic Church in Ghent, Belgium. The 89-meter-tall Gothic building is the seat of the Diocese of Ghent and is named for Saint Bavo of ...

in Ghent. The painting was delivered four years later but was not executed by Janssens, but by Nicolas de Liemaker. Jan Janssens died in Ghent around 1650. His house, De Pijl (The Arrow), is sold.

Work

Jan Janssens’ known work is fairly limited.Denis Coekelberghs, ''La résurrection d’une Résurrection. Un tableau de Jan Janssens (1643 ?) retrouvé''
3 April 2009, in: La Tribune de l'Art During his stay in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Janssens came into contact with

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

painters like

Dirck van Baburen Dirck Jaspersz. van Baburen (c. 1595 – 21 February 1624) was a Dutch painter and one of the Utrecht Caravaggisti. Biography Dirck van Baburen was probably born in Wijk bij Duurstede, but his family moved to Utrecht when he was still young. ...

Gerard van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickn ...

and

Hendrick ter Brugghen Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...

. These Dutch artists were followers of the style of

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

and are known as the Dutch or

Utrecht Caravaggisti Utrecht Caravaggism ( nl, Utrechtse caravaggisten) refers to the work of a group of artists who were from, or had studied in, the Netherlands, Dutch city of Utrecht (city), Utrecht, and during their stay in Rome during the early seventeenth centu ...

, after their main centre in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

, where there was still a sizeable and prosperous Catholic population. Their work influenced him stylistically.Jan Janssens
on the website of the

He was also influenced by the work of

Bartolomeo Manfredi Bartolomeo Manfredi (baptised 25 August 1582 – 12 December 1622) was an Italian painter, a leading member of the Caravaggisti (followers of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) of the early 17th century. Life Manfredi was born in Ostiano, nea ...

. 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

His chief subject matter are biblical and, to a lesser extent, mythological themes painted in a large format. 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 The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...

) 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 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

in the

St. Salvator's Cathedral The Saint-Salvator Cathedral is the cathedral of Bruges, Flanders, in present-day Belgium. The cathedral is dedicated to the ''Verrezen Zaligmaker'' (Dutch, 'risen saviour', cf. Latin ''salvator'', 'saviour') and Saint-Donatius of Reims. Histo ...

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

. In this composition he shows his originality and his independence of the Utrecht Caravaggisti and other Caravaggisti. The inspiration for the work may be an anonymous Italian Mannerist drawing.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 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. Janssens' work conforms to the prescriptions of the

Counter Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

and the Baroque through its merciless and sober realism and dramatic effects with hidden light that shines on his figures. These effects were intended to ensure a strong emotional impact on the viewer. One of his masterpieces is ''The Martyrdom of

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara ( grc, Ἁγία Βαρβάρα; cop, Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲃⲁⲣⲃⲁⲣⲁ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an Early Christianity, early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. Acc ...

'' (which in fact deals with

Saint Agatha Agatha of Sicily () is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred . She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mas ...

), which is kept in the

Saint Michael's Church, Ghent Saint Michael's Church (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Sint-Michielskerk'') is a Roman Catholic church in Ghent, Belgium built in a late Gothic architecture, Gothic style. It is known for its rich interior decoration. History Documents from 1105 testif ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Janssens, Jan 1590 births 1650 deaths Year of death unknown Flemish Baroque painters Flemish history painters Artists from Ghent

Life

Work

References

Further reading

External links