St Jerome

1610 · Private collection

religious

Janssens travelled to Italy, where he was recorded in Rome in 1598 and 1601. He was strongly influenced throughout the rest of his career by what he saw there; he certainly fell under the spell of Caravaggio. The present highly Caravaggesque painting, for example, with its dramatic diagonal lighting, strong chiaroscuro and almost totally dark background, is particularly close to Caravaggio's St John the Baptist, which dates from circa 1604.

About the Artist

Abraham Janssens

1575 – 1632

Abraham Janssens (also Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen or Abraham Janssens I), Flemish figure and portrait painter, active mainly in Antwerp. He was in Rome in 1598 and back in Antwerp by 1601. A second visit to Italy seems likely, for although in 1601 he was painting in a Mannerist style (Diana and Callisto, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest), by 1909 ( Scaldis and Antwerpia, Musée Royal, Antwerp) his work had become much more solid, sober, and classical, suggesting close knowledge of Caravaggio in particular. For the next decade Janssens was one of the most powerful and individual painters in Flanders, but during the 1620s his work became less remarkable as he fell under the all-pervasive influence of Rubens. His pupils included Gerard Seghers and Theodoor Rombouts. His son, Abraham Janssens II was also painter and pupil of his father.

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