Jan Cornelisz. Verspronck
Dutch, c. 1597 - 1662
Dutch painter. He was the son of the Haarlem painter Cornelis Engelsz. (c. 1575–1650) and was born not in 1597, as was formerly believed, but about ten years later. He was probably apprenticed to his father and possibly also for a period to Frans Hals. In 1632 he joined the Guild of St Luke in Haarlem, where he continued to paint until his death.
Of the approximately 100 works by him to have survived, most are portraits, with the exception of a few genre paintings, such as Guardroom with Officer and Soldiers (c. 1640; Jerusalem, Israel Mus.), and a Still-life with Loaf, Fish and Onions (c. 1640; the Netherlands, priv. col., see Ekkart, 1979, no. 27), his only known still-life. His earliest known portraits date from 1634 and are closely related in composition and in the poses of his subjects to works by Hals, but the brushwork is less free and the portrayal of the sitters more static. Verspronck’s style developed only slightly over a period of about 25 years. At the beginning of his career he evolved for his portraits a number of standard compositional forms, which he continued to use for many years with only slight variations. The only development in the early works is in the background of his portraits, which became an important element for displaying the effects of light and dark; there is usually a light area close to the right side of the figure, which gradually darkens across the picture. Among the best examples from his early work are the pendant portraits of Anthonie Charles de Liedekerke and Willemina van Braekel (both 1637; Haarlem, Frans Halsmus.).
The most productive period for Verspronck was between 1640 and 1643, when he painted the group portraits of the Governesses of the St Elisabeth Hospital (1641; Haarlem, Frans Halsmus.) and of the Governesses of the Orphanage (1642; Haarlem, Frans Halsmus.) and more than 20 individual portraits, including his best-known painting, Girl in Blue (1641; Amsterdam, Rijksmus.). Most of these are either head-and-shoulder or half-length portraits, but there are also some impressive three-quarter-length pieces, such as Portrait of a Man (1641; Louisville, KY, Speed A. Mus.) and its pendant Portrait of a Woman (1642; priv. col., see Ekkart, 1979, nos 38 and 41).
The portraits painted between 1644 and 1650, of which several examples can usually be dated in each year, do not differ greatly in composition from the early ones. From c. 1650, however, Verspronck usually portrayed his models seated. Among the best examples from this later period are the portraits of Eduard Wallis and his wife Maria van Strijp (both 1652; priv. col., on loan to Amsterdam, Rijksmus.). In some other works after 1650 he used a broader style of painting. In his final years he appears to have painted very little.
Verspronck was an isolated figure in the art circles of 17th-century Haarlem and must have led a withdrawn existence. He was a bachelor and initially lived with his parents, later moving into a residence of his own, with one brother and an unmarried sister. Through his painting he attained some affluence. His patrons, as far as can be identified from his portraits, were Haarlem citizens or people closely connected with the town, suggesting that he worked exclusively in that area. Among his models are representatives of the ruling Calvinist patriarchy but also members of the many well-to-do Catholic families of Haarlem. Verspronck himself was probably a Catholic. His significance lies in the original way in which he took the compositions of Hals as a starting-point and developed a personal, sober and quiet style of portrait painting, combining a fairly meticulous technique with a subdued range of colours, mainly white, black, grey and brown. No pupils are known.
Rudolf E. O. Ekkart. "Verspronck, Jan." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T089077 (accessed May 8, 2012).
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