JANSSENS, Abraham II

Flemish painter, son of Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen. He became a Master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke around 1636 and also worked as an art dealer. After the death of Janssens the Elder in 1632, he took over the running of his father’s workshop. Like his father, Janssens travelled to Rome and studied antique sculpture and the art of Michelangelo and Raphael. He lived and worked in the city for a period of about ten years up to 1649, at one point residing with his friend, the Dutch landscape painter Johannes Lingelbach.

In contrast to the more tenebrist style of his father, however, the son’s independent paintings display an elegance and grace which reflect the work of Rubens, Antwerp’s most influential painter.