# Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/cornelis-jonson-van-ceulen/
Profile generated: 2026-05-27T14:47:30.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: English, Dutch
- Movements: 17th-century English portraiture, Dutch Golden Age portraiture
- Common media: Oil on panel, Oil on canvas, Portrait miniatures

## About Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen

Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen (1593–1661) was an Anglo-Dutch portrait painter who became one of the most prolific portraitists working in early seventeenth-century England. Born in London to Dutch or Flemish parents who had fled religious persecution in Antwerp, he likely trained in the northern Netherlands before establishing his practice in London by around 1618. Over the following two decades he produced several hundred signed or monogrammed portraits of English gentry and aristocracy, making him the first England-born painter with such a large documented output. With the outbreak of the English Civil War he relocated to the Dutch Republic in 1643, working successively in Middelburg, Amsterdam, and finally Utrecht, where he died. His work bridges the Jacobean and Caroline portrait traditions in England and the broader Dutch Golden Age school of portraiture, and examples are held by major institutions including Tate and the Rijksmuseum.

## Common works and media

The artist's output consists almost entirely of portraits, ranging from full-length and three-quarter-length oil paintings on panel or canvas to small-scale portrait miniatures. Sitters are typically members of the English gentry, aristocracy, or civic elites of the Dutch Republic. Many works feature oval or arched formats with elaborate lace collars and costume detail characteristic of Jacobean and Caroline fashion. Signed or monogrammed examples are common, and the RKD and Tate hold representative collections of his work.

## Market and appraisal context

Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen's portraits appear regularly in Old Master Paintings sales at international auction houses. Value depends heavily on sitter identity, provenance, condition of the panel or canvas support, and whether the work carries the artist's characteristic signature or monogram. Works from his London period, especially those depicting identifiable aristocratic sitters, tend to attract the strongest collector interest. Portrait miniatures by his hand form a distinct category with a separate specialist market. Attribution should be confirmed through museum records, RKD documentation, or authority files, as workshop participation and later copies are known in his oeuvre.

## Appraisily data basis

This Appraisily artist page combines identity research from Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, and Tate with publicly documented auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Biographical details are drawn from museum and authority-file sources; market observations reference major auction-house results where supported.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q636113
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Johnson_(artist)
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500013588
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/13372597/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr97031628
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/cornelius-johnson-297
- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/41951