Jacques de l'Ange

Jacques de l'Ange or the Monogrammist JAD (c. 1621 – 1650) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman known for his genre scenes and history paintings executed in a Caravaggesque style. The artist was only rediscovered in the mid-1990s as his work was previously attributed to other Northern Caravaggists and in particular the Utrecht School Caravaggists or Flemish Carravagists.

Life Very little is known about the life of Jacques de l'Ange. It is not clear whether he can be identified with the genre and history painter Jacques (Jacob) de Langhe who was recorded in Antwerp in 1632–1633 and was a pupil of Jan Cossiers. It remains unclear whether he Ange could be the "J. de Langhe," who was active as a portraitist in 's-Hertogenbosch from 1644 to 1693. A Jacques de 'Ánge trained under Jan Cossiers and was registered as Cossiers' pupil in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in the Guild year 1632–1633. Assuming he is the same Jacques de l'Ange he was likely born around 1621. He did not register as a master of the Guild later, which indicates that he likely continued to work in his master's workshop following the completion of his apprenticeship. Around 1640 he was able to produce some works in his own name. Previously Jacques de l'Ange was only known as the 'Monogrammist JAD' because his signed paintings just use these initials and not his full name. Gradually new paintings have been added to his oeuvre based on a better understanding of his artistic personality. His works also reveal a close relationship with the work of the Netherlandish painter Matthias Stom who is known to have worked in Naples where he produced a number of candle-lit scenes which clearly influenced de l'Ange. De l'Ange also further shows a preference for scenes lit by candles or torches and when he renounces these devices, he achieves a similar light contrast by placing in the foreground figures in the shadow which are set off against the brighter central and background portions of the composition.

Other characteristics of his style are his facial types, bright palette and loose and bright brush technique. His history paintings further include the Martyrdom of St Dymphna and St Gerebernus (Staatsgalerie im neuen Schloss Schleissheim, Oberschleissheim), formerly attributed to Gerard Seghers and two versions of the Death of Seneca (private collections), one of which was formerly attributed to 'Circle of Matthias Stom.

Seven deadly sins Jacques de l'Ange is mainly known for his series of seven genre paintings depicting the Seven deadly sins. He executed various copies of the series attesting to the popularity of the subject at the time. Another painting in the series of deadly sins depicting 'Lust' has been identified in the collection of the Reggio Emilia, Galleria Parmiggiani, where it had been attributed to Joachim Sandrart and Matthias Stom.

The Ashmolean Museum has a complete set of the seven compositions executed on copper. Some of these are believed to have been painted by Jacques de l'Ange as small-scale ricordi after completion of the series around 1642 and others may be designs for the larger paintings. It is not clear whether all large paintings in the series were completed.

Like other followers of Caravaggio, de l’Ange used light, usually from a single source, to create dramatic effect. For instance in his composition representing Gluttony he placed a candle on the right-hand side of the composition to create dramatic, almost theater-like shadows. As a result, the scene emerges from the dark background and gains depth as the modelling of the figures is accentuated.