Background
He was born in Bruges as the son of Gisbrecht Janssens, who probably taught him to paint.
He was born in Bruges as the son of Gisbrecht Janssens, who probably taught him to paint.
He also painted still lifes. When he moved to Rotterdam in 1653, he changed his name to Elinga. He moved to Amsterdam in 1657, where he probably died.
He is last registered alive in 1657, when he paid a poll tax in Amsterdam.
His widow is registered there in a notarized document as a widow in 1682. He is best known today for his perspective box, one of only 6 known to be still intact.
lieutenant is on show at the Bredius Museum in The Hague. Perspective boxes were experiments with light, architectural elements, and the camera obscura.
Samuel van Hoogstraten also made one, which is on show at the National Gallery.
Given the size and contorted perspective, the small painting View of Delft by Carel Fabritius has been considered to have originally been part of a perspective box.