Francken
Encyclopedia
In the Francken family of Antwerp in the 16th and 17th centuries were 11 painters. Many bore the same Christian name in succession. Hence there is confusion in the classification of paintings not differing widely in style or execution. When Frans Francken I found a rival in Frans Francken II, he described himself as "the elder" in contradistinction to his son, who signed himself "the younger". But when Frans the second was threatened with competition from Frans III he took the name of the elder, whilst Frans the third adopted that of Frans the younger.
. None of his works remain. He bequeathed his art to three children. '
The eldest son, Hieronymus Francken, after leaving his father's house studied under Frans Floris
, to whom he afterwards served as an assistant, and wandered, about 1560, to Paris
. In 1566 he was one of the masters employed to decorate the palace of Fontainebleau
, and in 1574 he obtained the appointment of court painter from Henry III of France
who had just returned from Poland
and visited Titian
at Venice
. In 1603, when Van Mander wrote his biography of Flemish artists, Jerom Francken was still in Paris living in the then aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain. Among his earliest works is a notable a Nativity
in the Dresden
museum, executed in cooperation with Floris. Another of his important pieces is the Abdication of Charles V
in the Amsterdam
museum. Equally interesting is a Portrait of a Falconer
, dated 1558, in the Brunswick gallery. In style these pieces all recall Floris.
Frans, the second son of Nicholas of Herenthals, is to be kept in memory as Frans Francken I. He was born about 1544, matriculated at Antwerp in 1567, and died there in 1616. He, too, studied under Floris, and never settled abroad, or lost the hard and gaudy style which he inherited from his master. Several of his pictures are in the museum of Antwerp; one dated 1597 in the Dresden museum represents Christ
on the Road to Golgotha, and is signed by him as D.6 (Den ouden).
More specimens of the work of Ambrosius Francken I, the third son of Nicholas of Herenthals, remain than those of Hieronymus or Frans I. He first started as a partner with Hieronymus at Fontainebleau, then he returned to Antwerp, where he passed for his guild in 1573, and he lived at Antwerp till 1618. His best works are the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and the Martyrdom of St. Crispin, both large and ambitious compositions in the Antwerp museum. In both these pieces a fair amount of power is displayed, but marred by want of atmosphere and shadow or by hardness of line and gaudiness of tone. There is not a trace in the three painters named of the influence of the revival which took place under the lead of Rubens.
Frans Francken I trained three sons to his profession, the eldest of whom, though he practised as a master of guild at Antwerp from 1600 to 1610, left no visible trace of his labors behind.
Hieronymus Francken II took service with his uncle Ambrosius. He was born in 1578, entered the guild in 1607, and in 1620 produced that curious picture of Horatius Cocles
defending the Sublician Bridge which still hangs in the Antwerp museum.
The third son of Frans Francken I is Frans Francken II
, who signed himself in pictures till 1616 as "the younger", from 1630 till his death the elder Frans Francken. These pictures are usually of small size cabinet painting
s, and are found in considerable numbers in continental collections. Frans Francken II was born in 1581. In 1605 he entered the painters guild, of which he subsequently became the president, and in 1642 he died. His earliest composition is the Crucifixion
in the Belvedere
at Vienna
, dated 1606. His latest compositions as the younger Frans Francken are the Adoration of the Virgin (1616) in the gallery of Amsterdam, and the Woman taken in Adultery (1628) in Dresden. From 1616 to 1630 many of his pieces are signed F. Francken; then come the Seven Works of Charity (1630) at Munich
, signed the elder Frans Francken, the Prodigal Son (1633) at the Louvre
, and other almost countless examples. It is in F. Francken II's style that we first have evidence of the struggle which necessarily arose when the old customs, hardened by Bernard van Orley
and Floris, or Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Marten de Vos
, were swept away by Rubens. But Frans Francken the Younger, as before observed, always clung to small surfaces; and though he gained some of the freedom of the moderns, he lost but little of the dryness or gaudiness of the earlier Italo-Flemish revivalists.
Frans Francken III, born 1607, is the last of his name who deserves to be recorded. He entered the Antwerp guild in 1639 and died at Antwerp in 1667. His practice was chiefly confined to adding figures to the architectural or landscape pieces of other artists. As Frans Pourbus the younger
sometimes put in the portrait figures for Frans Francken II, so Frans Francken III often introduced the necessary personages into the works of Pieter Neefs the Younger (museums of St. Petersburg, Dresden and the Hague). In a Moses
striking the Rock, dated 1654, of the Augsburg gallery, this last of the Franckens signs D.6 (Den ouden) F. Franck. In the pictures of this artist are most clearly discernible the effects of Rubens's example.
Family tree
The eldest of the Franckens, Nicholas of Herenthals, died at Antwerp in 1596, with nothing but the reputation of having been a painterPainting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. None of his works remain. He bequeathed his art to three children. '
The eldest son, Hieronymus Francken, after leaving his father's house studied under Frans Floris
Frans Floris
Frans Floris, or more correctly Frans de Vriendt, called Floris was a Flemish painter. He was a member of a large family trained to the study of art in Flanders.-Biography:...
, to whom he afterwards served as an assistant, and wandered, about 1560, to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In 1566 he was one of the masters employed to decorate the palace of Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...
, and in 1574 he obtained the appointment of court painter from Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
who had just returned from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and visited Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. In 1603, when Van Mander wrote his biography of Flemish artists, Jerom Francken was still in Paris living in the then aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain. Among his earliest works is a notable a Nativity
Nativity of Jesus in art
The Nativity of Jesus has been a major subject of Christian art since the 4th century. The artistic depictions of the Nativity or birth of Jesus, celebrated at Christmas, are based on the narratives in the Bible, in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and further elaborated by written, oral and...
in the Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
museum, executed in cooperation with Floris. Another of his important pieces is the Abdication of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
in the Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
museum. Equally interesting is a Portrait of a Falconer
Falconry
Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...
, dated 1558, in the Brunswick gallery. In style these pieces all recall Floris.
Frans, the second son of Nicholas of Herenthals, is to be kept in memory as Frans Francken I. He was born about 1544, matriculated at Antwerp in 1567, and died there in 1616. He, too, studied under Floris, and never settled abroad, or lost the hard and gaudy style which he inherited from his master. Several of his pictures are in the museum of Antwerp; one dated 1597 in the Dresden museum represents Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
on the Road to Golgotha, and is signed by him as D.6 (Den ouden).
More specimens of the work of Ambrosius Francken I, the third son of Nicholas of Herenthals, remain than those of Hieronymus or Frans I. He first started as a partner with Hieronymus at Fontainebleau, then he returned to Antwerp, where he passed for his guild in 1573, and he lived at Antwerp till 1618. His best works are the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and the Martyrdom of St. Crispin, both large and ambitious compositions in the Antwerp museum. In both these pieces a fair amount of power is displayed, but marred by want of atmosphere and shadow or by hardness of line and gaudiness of tone. There is not a trace in the three painters named of the influence of the revival which took place under the lead of Rubens.
Frans Francken I trained three sons to his profession, the eldest of whom, though he practised as a master of guild at Antwerp from 1600 to 1610, left no visible trace of his labors behind.
Hieronymus Francken II took service with his uncle Ambrosius. He was born in 1578, entered the guild in 1607, and in 1620 produced that curious picture of Horatius Cocles
Horatius Cocles
Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the ancient Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Lars Porsena, king of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium.-Background:...
defending the Sublician Bridge which still hangs in the Antwerp museum.
Frans Francken the Younger
Frans Francken the Younger , was a Flemish Baroque painter and the best-known member of the large Francken family of artists....
, who signed himself in pictures till 1616 as "the younger", from 1630 till his death the elder Frans Francken. These pictures are usually of small size cabinet painting
Cabinet painting
A cabinet painting is a small painting, typically no larger than about two feet in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used of paintings that show full-length figures at a small scale, as opposed to say a head painted nearly life-size, and that are painted very...
s, and are found in considerable numbers in continental collections. Frans Francken II was born in 1581. In 1605 he entered the painters guild, of which he subsequently became the president, and in 1642 he died. His earliest composition is the Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
in the Belvedere
Belvedere (palace)
The Belvedere is a historical building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the 3rd district of the city, south-east of its centre. It houses the...
at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, dated 1606. His latest compositions as the younger Frans Francken are the Adoration of the Virgin (1616) in the gallery of Amsterdam, and the Woman taken in Adultery (1628) in Dresden. From 1616 to 1630 many of his pieces are signed F. Francken; then come the Seven Works of Charity (1630) at Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, signed the elder Frans Francken, the Prodigal Son (1633) at the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, and other almost countless examples. It is in F. Francken II's style that we first have evidence of the struggle which necessarily arose when the old customs, hardened by Bernard van Orley
Bernard van Orley
Bernard van Orley , also called Barend or Barent van Orley, Bernaert van Orley or Barend van Brussel, was a Flemish Northern Renaissance painter and draughtsman, and also a leading designer of tapestries and stained glass...
and Floris, or Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Marten de Vos
Marten de Vos
Marten de Vos , also Maarten, was a leading Antwerp painter and draughtsman in the late sixteenth century.-Biography:Like Frans Floris, he travelled to Italy and adopted the mannerist style popular at the time. De Vos was also highly influenced by the colors of Venetian painting, and might have...
, were swept away by Rubens. But Frans Francken the Younger, as before observed, always clung to small surfaces; and though he gained some of the freedom of the moderns, he lost but little of the dryness or gaudiness of the earlier Italo-Flemish revivalists.
Frans Francken III, born 1607, is the last of his name who deserves to be recorded. He entered the Antwerp guild in 1639 and died at Antwerp in 1667. His practice was chiefly confined to adding figures to the architectural or landscape pieces of other artists. As Frans Pourbus the younger
Frans Pourbus the younger
Frans Pourbus the younger was a Flemish painter, son of Frans Pourbus the Elder and grandson of Pieter Pourbus. He was born in Antwerp and died in Paris...
sometimes put in the portrait figures for Frans Francken II, so Frans Francken III often introduced the necessary personages into the works of Pieter Neefs the Younger (museums of St. Petersburg, Dresden and the Hague). In a Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
striking the Rock, dated 1654, of the Augsburg gallery, this last of the Franckens signs D.6 (Den ouden) F. Franck. In the pictures of this artist are most clearly discernible the effects of Rubens's example.