Elegant companies Janssens' paintings are often both signed and dated, with dates ranging from 1646 to 1661. Like his teacher van der Laemen he was specialized in dance scenes, set inside a house or on an outside terrace. This is where he got the nickname
Den danser or
The dancer. These works contributed to the development of the genre of the conversation piece in the Low Countries. His representations of elegant companies and balls and the works of
Peter Paul Rubens, in particular his
Garden of Love (
Prado Museum), were significant for the formation of the genre. In this last work, Rubens showed how a garden could be used as a setting for amorous dalliance and courtship. Some of his elegant company scenes such as
The Prodigal Son Dining with a Music-Making Party and the
Elegant company depict persons engaging in excessive drinking and apparently dissolute behaviour and ostensibly carry a moralistic message.
Architectural works Janssens also painted many architectural paintings usually of imaginary palaces, temples and art galleries. He based himself on existing buildings, including the house of Rubens in Antwerp, as well as on prints of
Hans Vredeman de Vries, which were a source of perspectival effects. Playing with elements such as columns, pilasters and windows he created imaginary, monumental constructions. The architectural features with their perspectival exaggeration as well as the use of
chiaroscuro created a dramatic effect in Janssens' work. He frequently painted these works in collaboration with other artists such as
Dirck van Delen,
Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg and
Jacobus Ferdinandus Saey.
Gallery paintings Janssens contributed to the genre of the 'gallery paintings'. The 'gallery paintings' genre is native to Antwerp where
Frans Francken the Younger and
Jan Brueghel the Elder were the first artists to create paintings of art and curiosity collections in the 1620s. Gallery paintings depict large rooms in which many paintings and other precious items are displayed in elegant surroundings. The earliest works in this genre depicted art objects together with other items such as scientific instruments or peculiar natural specimens. The genre became immediately quite popular and was followed by other artists such as
Jan Brueghel the Younger,
Cornelis de Baellieur,
Hans Jordaens,
David Teniers the Younger,
Gillis van Tilborch and Hieronymus Janssens himself. A good example is the
Picture Gallery with Fashionable Visitors (National Trust, Uppark House and Garden, West Sussex) dated to the 1660s. The gallery depicted is an imaginary gallery with three allegorical figures who are admiring a canvas of the 'Last Judgement'. On a table by a window are placed pieces of sculpture, a globe, and other objects. The contrast between the precious objects on the table and the 'Last Judgement' in the foreground illustrates the idea of vanitas: the ultimate vanity of earthly pleasures.
Influence His work was of influence on later Flemish genre painters such as
Jan Josef Horemans the Younger, whose work
Presenting the newborn (current whereabouts unknown) borrowed extensively from Janssens'
Ball on the terrace of a palace (
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille). ==Selected works==