Johnson, Cornelius

Johnson, Cornelius (Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen) (bapt. London, 14 Oct. 1593; d Utrecht, 5 Aug. 1661).
Anglo-Dutch portrait painter. He was born in England of Flemish parents and perhaps trained in Holland. By about 1618 he was active in London and he worked there until 1643, when he left England because of the Civil War and settled in Holland. There are several hundred portraits by him, mainly of people from the upper (but not the highest) levels of society. He was a conservative artist but a sensitive one, with a delicate feeling for colour and characterization. Most of his portraits are in head-and-shoulders format, but he occasionally painted full-lengths.