JANSSEN, CORNELIUS, an eminent portrait-painter, was born at Amsterdam, though, in the Chronological Tables, and in Sandart, it is asserted that he was born in London. He resided for several years in England, where he was engaged in the service of King James I., and painted several excellent portraits of that monarch, as also of his children, and of the principal nobility of his court. He had not the freedom of hand nor the grace of Vandyck; but in other respects he was accounted his equal, and in the finishing of his pictures superior. His paintings are easily distinguished by their smooth, clear, and delicate tints, and by that character of truth to nature with which they are strongly marked. He generally painted on panel; and his draperies are for the most part black, probably because that tint threw out his flesh colours more brightly than any other. His pieces have retained their original lustre in a very rare degree. His fame began to be somewhat obscured on the arrival of Vandyck in England; and when the civil war broke out some time afterwards, he returned to his own country, where his paintings were held in the highest esteem. He died in 1665.