Philemon and Baucis Entertaining Jupiter and Mercury

1620 · Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley

mythological

At the end of the second decade of the seventeenth century Janssens was influenced by Caravaggism, using cold local colouring, and strongly modelled contrasts of light and figures cut off by the painting's edges. One of the best examples of this work is probably the present painting. Here the link with a more general interest in Italian early Baroque painting is evident.

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Philemon and Baucis Entertaining Jupiter and Mercury

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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