ABRAHAM JANSSENS VAN NUYSSEN (FLEMISH 1575-1632), JUPITER AND SEMELE

ABRAHAM JANSSENS VAN NUYSSEN (FLEMISH 1575-1632) JUPITER AND SEMELEOil on canvas 126 x 126cm (49½ x 49½ in.)Provenance:Sale, Christie's, London, Important and Fine Old Master Pictures, 7 July 1995, lot 56 Abraham Janssens studied under the tutorage of Jan Snellinck and was registered under the local Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. It is believed that Janssens travelled to Italy and resided in Rome between 1597 and 1602. He was to become a master in the Antwerp Guild on his return home in 1602. Janssens had eight children with his wife Sara Goetkint. One of their daughters, Maria Anna, went on to be the wife of Jan Breughel the Younger. In Greek and Roman mythology, Semele was a mortal woman and one of many recipients of the god Jupiter's (Zeus') affections. The myth goes that Jupiter, disguised as an eagle, fell in love with Semele as she was bathing in the river Asopus. The affair eventually resulted in Semele falling pregnant with a son and god, Bacchus (Dionysus). Upon discovering his infidelity Jupiter's wife Juno (Hera), jealous of her husband's affairs, disguised herself as an old crone and befriended Semele. Before long Semele had confessed to her new confidant that she was indeed Jupiter's lover. Juno worked quickly, planting seeds of doubt in the young woman's mind. So much so, that Semele asked Jupiter to grant her a request to prove his divinity by showing himself in all his glory. Eager to please his lover, Jupiter had agreed to Semele's plea before she had revealed to him the full extent of the request. Once he learned what Semele was truly asking, he begged her to reconsider but she refused, and bound by his oath he was forced to appear before her in a cloud of thunderbolts and thunderstorms. But mortals cannot look upon the gods without perishing and so Semele died. Years later, her son, rescued from her womb by his father, rescued Semele from Pluto (Hades) and she became the goddess Thyone living on Mount Olympus.