Background
According to Houbraken he was born in Utrecht.
According to Houbraken he was born in Utrecht.
Because he signed a few paintings with "John Haensbergh Gorco fecit", which led some art historians to conclude he was from Gorinchem and others that he worked there for a while. He was a student of Cornelius van Poelenburgh, and though he was quite successful in imitating his master"s style of landscape painting, he switched to portraits since he could make a comfortable living making flattering ladies portraits that made their skin look whiter.
According to Houbraken, Haensbergen became an art dealer in The Hague with a man named "De Jode", who was "Drost van "t Haagse Hof".
He may have meant the Baljuw Adriaan Rosa, a wealthy magistrate from The Hague whose brother Johan was consulted in valuing paintings for estate inventories. Houbraken mentioned this same "De Jode" in his biographical sketch of the landscape painter January Both, a collaborator with Poelenburgh who Haensbergen probably knew personally.
Houbraken remarked on the beauty of a large painting 6 feet high of Argus Panoptes and Mercury that he had once seen himself in De Jode"s collection. His landscapes show the influence of Poelenburgh and his portraits show the influence of Caspar Netscher.
Utrecht Guild of Saint Luke. Confrerie Pictura.