Ref: 503
The Performance
Hieronymus Janssens
Ref: 503
The Performance
Hieronymus Janssens
1624 - 1693
Oil on canvas
Oil on canvas
Literature: E. Bénézit, Dictionary of Painters, Sculptors, Drawers, and Engravers, Gründ 1952, Vol. 5, p. 126
Walther Bernt, The Dutch Painters and Drawers of the 17th Century, Munich 1980, Vol. 2, p. 18, ill. 630, 631
J. de Maere & M. Wabbes, Illustrated Dictionary of 17th-Century Flemish Painters, Brussels 1994, p. 231, ill. 605, 650-653
Alfred von Wurzbach, Dutch Artists' Lexicon, Amsterdam 1974, Vol. 1, p. 750
Julia M. Nauhaus, The Painting Collection of the Braunschweig Municipal Museum, Olms Verlag, 2009, p. 207, ill. 537
Walther Bernt, The Dutch Painters and Drawers of the 17th Century, Munich 1980, Vol. 2, p. 18, ill. 630, 631
J. de Maere & M. Wabbes, Illustrated Dictionary of 17th-Century Flemish Painters, Brussels 1994, p. 231, ill. 605, 650-653
Alfred von Wurzbach, Dutch Artists' Lexicon, Amsterdam 1974, Vol. 1, p. 750
Julia M. Nauhaus, The Painting Collection of the Braunschweig Municipal Museum, Olms Verlag, 2009, p. 207, ill. 537
Description: Hieronymus Janssens was a Flemish genre painter who particularly enjoyed depicting distinguished groups of people playing, enjoying music, and especially dancing, which is why he was nicknamed "the Dancer." In 1637, he became a student of Christoffel van der Lamen, surpassing him in the magnificence and skillful arrangement of many figures in his compositions. In 1644, he became master of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. The scenic backgrounds of his compositions usually include terraces and magnificent halls with tiled floors and stone fireplaces. These compositions owe their underlying elegance largely to the successful combination of delicate draftsmanship and soft silvery to yellowish tones. Janssens particularly enjoyed painting the splendid festivities at the court of Prince Don Juan d'Austria, for whom he carried out various commissions. Janssens also frequently painted staffage figures for the architectural compositions of W. van Ehrenberg, J. Ghernix, P. Neeffs, J.F. Saeys, and B. van Bassen.
Represented in the collections and museums of Antwerp, Brussels, Dunkirk, Gothenburg, Lille, Montargis, Paris, Prague, Schleissheim, and Braunschweig.
A signed version very similar to our painting is in the Braunschweig Museum.
A painting with a comparable composition is in Oranienburg Palace in Dessau.
Represented in the collections and museums of Antwerp, Brussels, Dunkirk, Gothenburg, Lille, Montargis, Paris, Prague, Schleissheim, and Braunschweig.
A signed version very similar to our painting is in the Braunschweig Museum.
A painting with a comparable composition is in Oranienburg Palace in Dessau.
Hieronymus Janssens
Hieronymus Janssens (1624–1693), also known as Jeroom Janssens and nicknamed “Den danser” or “The Dancer,” was a Flemish genre painter active in Antwerp. Trained under Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen, he became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1643–44. Janssens specialised in elegant companies dancing, playing music, conversing or taking part in courtly leisure, often set in richly imagined interiors, terraces, gardens or palatial architecture. His paintings helped shape the conversation piece in the Low Countries, turning social performance, costume, gesture and etiquette into refined visual theatre. Beyond ballroom scenes, he also painted architectural views of real or imaginary palaces, churches, temples and picture galleries, contributing to Antwerp’s fascination with spaces of display and collection. His works combine narrative charm, precise staging and graceful movement, offering a polished view of seventeenth-century Flemish sociability and elite culture.
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