Lot 148: Jan Janssens , Ghent 1590 - circa 1650 the resurrection oil on canvas, a fragment

oil on canvas, a fragment

measurements note 207 by 207 cm.; 81 1/2 by 81 1/2 in.

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
Born in Ghent in 1590, Janssens travelled to Italy, where he is documented in Rome between 1619 and 1620. He soon came into contact with the works of the already established artists Gerrit van Honthorst (1592-1656) and Dirck van Baburen (circa 1594-1624) from Utrecht. Both artists had already achieved a high level of success, and had both attracted commissions from the leading patrons of the day Cardinal Scipio Borghese and Vincenzo Giustiniani. Their financial success would not have passed Janssens by, and he was swift to emulate their style. Baburen was to exert the stronger influence, and Janssens was even to copy his compositions (and in some cases pass them off as his own). In 1621 he returned to Ghent and enrolled in the Guild of Saint Luke, and continued to produce pictures in the Caravaggesque manner, where he was to build a successful practice particularly painting altarpieces, such as the present picture, for the churches in and around Ghent. The present lot should be compared to the signed altarpiece of the Resurrection in the Church of Saint Saviour, Bruges, which is dated 1640 (see fig. 1).υ1

1. Also reproduced in J. de Maere, Illustrated Dictionary of 17th Century Flemish Painting, vol. I, Brussels 1994, p. 231, reproduced vol. II, fig. 656.