by J. van Tatenhove

Little is known about the seventeenth-century Haarlem painter Frans de Jongh. Houbraken, the first author to mention him, notes in passing that he was one of Jan de Groot's teachers. De Groot, he informs us, was apprenticed to Adriaen van Ostade in 1666, and "finally [to] Frans de Jong of Haarlem".[1] Van der Willigen reports in 1870: "I have found in my notes on the [Haarlem] guild of St Luke that he was born in Haarlem, and that he was the son of a sister of A. van Ostade and the latter's pupil. He is mentioned as an excellent history painter. He was buried in the New Church on 15 January 1705. "[2] Wurzbach lists a pair of pendants by De Jongh in Copenhagen, which he describes as being in the style of Salvator Rosa, and notes that one is signed "f.de.Jongh".[3] One depicts Jason and the Dragon (fig. 1), the other Cadmus and the Dragon (fig. 2).[4] In addition, Thieme-Becker refer to a sheet at the printroom in Leiden, which is a drawing by Taco Hajo Jelgersma after a self-portrait by De Jongh (fig. 3).[5] Beneath this portrait in a roundel, which shows De Jongh wearing a bearskin hat, is a tablet with the following inscription:

1. Frans de Jongh, Jason and the Dragon, signed at lower right. Canvas, 45.5 x 37 cm. Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst


2. Frans de Jongh, Cadmus and the Dragon. Canvas, 46 x 37 cm. Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst

According to the archive documents of the Haarlem Guild of St Luke published by Miedema, De Jongh was registered as a member of the guild from 1664.[6]