Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/594

568 J A N J A N colouring, delicate touch, good taste, and careful finish. He generally painted upon panel, and often worked on a small scale, sometimes producing replicas of his larger works. A characteristic of his style is the very dark back ground, which throws the carnations of his portraits into rounded relief. JANSSENS, or JANSENS, VAN NUYSSEN, ABRAHAM (1567-1632), painter, was born at Antwerp in 1567. He studied under Jan Snellinck, was a "master" in 1602, and in 1607 was dean of the master-painters. Till the appearance of Rubens he was considered perhaps the best historical painter of his time. The styles of the two artists are not unlike. In correctness of drawing Janssens excelled his great contemporary ; in bold composition and in treatment of the nude he equalled him : but in faculty of colour and in general freedom of disposition and touch he fell far short. A master of chiaroscuro, he gratified his taste for strong contrasts of light and shade in his torch lights and similar effects. Good examples of this master are to be seen in the Antwerp museum and the Vienna gallery. The stories of his jealousy of Rubens and of his dissolute life are quite unfounded. He died at Antwerp in 1632. JANSSENS, or JANSENS, VICTOR HONORIUS (1664- 1739), painter, was born at Brussels in 1664. After seven years in the studio of an obscure painter named Volders, lie spent four years in the household of the duke of Holstein. The next eleven years Janssens passed in Rome, where he took eager advantage of all the aids to artistic study, and formed an intimacy with Tempesta, in whose landscapes lie frequently inserted figures. Rising into popularity, he painted a large number of cabinet historical scenes ; but, on his return to Brussels, the claims of his increasing family restricted him almost entirely to the larger and more lucrative size of picture, of which very many of the churches and palaces of the Netherlands contain examples. In 1718 Janssens was invited to Vienna, where he stayed three years, and was made painter to the emperor. The statement that he visited England is based only upon the fact that certain fashionable interiors of the time in that country have been attributed to him. Janssens s colouring was good, his touch delicate, and his taste refined. He died in 1739. JANUARIUS, ST, or SAN GENXARO, the patron saint of Naples, according to the Roman Breviary, was bishop of Benevento, and flourished towards the close of the 3d century after Christ. On the outbreak of the persecution by Diocletian and Maxim ian, he was taken to Nola and brought before Timotheus the governor of Campania on account of his profession of the Christian religion. After he had withstood various assaults upon his constancy, he was at last .sentenced to be cast into the fiery furnace, through which he passed wholly unharmed. On the following day, along with a number of fellow martyrs, he was exposed to the fury of wild beasts, which, however, contrary to their nature, laid themselves down in tame sub mission at his feet. Timotheus, again pronouncing sentence of death, was struck with blindness, but immediately healed by the powerful intercession of the saint, a miracle which converted nearly five thousand men on the spot. The ungrateful judge, only roused to further fury by these occurrences, caused the execution of Januarius by the sword to be forthwith carried out. The body was ultimately removed by the inhabitants of Naples to that city, where the relic became very famous for its miracles, especially in counteracting the more dangerous eruptions of Vesuvius. His clotted blood, preserved in a glass phial, even to this day is wont to liquefy and bubble up as if but recently shed whensoever it is placed within sight of the martyr s head. So far the Breviary. This liquefaction of the blood, which is brought about at least twice a year, on May 1 and on September 19, the day assigned to this saint in the Roman calendar, is a miracle the recurrence of which is observed by believing Neapolitans on each occasion with various festivities extending over a whole week. The Januarius of Cordoba, to whom along with Saints Faustus and Martialis, a special local office is assigned in the Spanish Breviary, has a story which bears a general resemblance to the preceding ; he also is stated to have suffered under Diocletian and Maximian, but the scene of his martyrdom was Cordoba. His day is October 13, and the invention of his remains is commemorated on November 26. The number of minor saints of this name is very considerable ; the cognomen appears to have been somewhat common. JANUARY, the first month in our present calendar, consists of thirty-one days. It was, however, not the first month of the year in the British Isles till the reformation of the calendar was made in 1752, when the legislature, by an Act passed in the preceding year, altered the mode of reckoning time from the Julian to the Gregorian style. At this period it was directed that the legal year which had commenced in some parts of the country on March 25, and in others with January, should thenceforward be appointed to begin always on the 1st of January. January derives its name from the god Janus, who had two faces looking in opposite directions, and Macrobius states that it was dedicated to him because, from its situation, it might be considered to be retrospective to the past and prospective to the opening year. The consecration of the month took place by an offering of meal, salt, frankincense, and wine, each of which was new. On the first of this month all enmities were suspended, presents were exchanged, consuls installed, itc. The principal festivals now observed in this month are the following : Jan. 1, New Year s Day, Feast of the Circumcision ; Jan. 6, Epiphany, Twelfth- Day; and Jan. 25, Conversion of St Paul. See CALENDAR. JANUS, a Roman god, after whom the month of January was named. His temple was open in war and closed during peace, and the ceremony of closing it for the third time iu Roman history was performed by Augustus, 29 B.C., when he had established his authority over the whole empire. This temple, which was in reality only an arch or gateway, facing east and west, stood near the forum. AVhen most of the Roman gods were merged in Greek divinities, Janus retained his native character. Amid the obscurity that hangs over the genuine Roman religion, it is difficult to determine the nature and origin of Janus. It .is probable that he was the chief deity of one of the races which were united in the Roman people, and that his wor ship was maintained beside, but overshadowed by, that of Jupiter, the chief deity of another of these races. The hill of Janus, Janiculum, lay on the north or Etruscan side of the Tiber, and was doubtless the seat of his original wor shippers. An Etruscan origin is thus suggested, and most ! authorities accept this hypothesis. The Romans them selves thought that Janus and the feminine Jana, i.e., 1 Diana, were sun and moon ; and the names are commonly assimilated to the Greek Zr/v, i.e., At ^r. If, however, Janus was an Etruscan god, belonging to the Etruscan element in Rome, he must then be identified with the Etruscan deity Ani, the form of the name being prompted by the word janua, as Janus is the god of opening and be ginning. The god is represented with two faces looking in opposite directions, a design found on the coins of the Etruscan Volaterra, but possibly due to the influence of Greek art. See Preller, R<im. Myth. ; Gerhard, Griccli. M>/th.,ii. ; Hartung, Eelig. dcr Romer ; Schwegler, Rom. Gcschiclite, &c. ; Deecke, Tcmplum von I iaccnza. Mommsen in his history proposes a different view.