Francken (painter family)

Francken's workshop: the golden vases of the Egyptians , after 1600.

The Francken family was a Flemish family of painters from the 16th to the early 18th centuries who mainly worked in Antwerp . Since the first names Ambrosius, Frans and Hieronymus each appear three times, their bearers are differentiated with Roman numerals. The best-known representative of the family is Frans II Francken (1581–1642).

The family

The five generations that produced fourteen painters began with the painter Nicolas Francken, who came to Antwerp from Herentals in the 1560s . His three sons Hieronymus I, Frans I and Ambrosius I apprenticed to Frans Floris , who strongly influenced them with his Italian-classical school. The designation "Rubens'scher Francken" for Frans III Francken from the fourth generation, with which a turn to the style of Peter Paul Rubens is to be indicated, is an outdated evaluation of the 19th century.

As journeymen and masters, the Francken belonged to the Antwerp Sankt-Lukas-Gilde , all three bearers of the first name Frans became their deans (heads). Altarpieces played a prominent role in her work , the production of which has flourished since Antwerp was incorporated into the Spanish Netherlands in 1585. Among the counter-Reformation measures introduced by the new rulers were the Tridentine reforms, which brought about the establishment of the high altar as the impressive centerpiece of every church. In addition to their religious works, the Francken also produced large numbers of mythological and genre pictures , which were particularly popular with the urban citizens as small-format room decorations.

The Francken ran a family workshop, made paintings together and copied works from one another, so that their painting style was very similar to one another; this and the identical signatures due to the same first name make the attribution difficult. The Francken also worked as staffage painters on the works of other artists. The second and third generation, whose works in the transition from the late renaissance to the early baroque attracted attention in art history, had the greatest success, after them the Francken began to reorient themselves professionally. In addition to the painting trade, Frans III Francken ran a cloth trade, and the history of the family of painters ended with his nephew Constantin Francken, of whom only two paintings are known.

In April 2010 the painting Man between Virtue and Vice by Frans II Francken was auctioned at Dorotheum in Vienna for 7.01 million euros .

Family tree

With the exception of Cornelius Francken, only the family members who work in painting appear.

Nicolas Francken 1515–1596

Hieronymus I Francken 1540-1610

Frans I Francken 1542-1616

Ambrosius I Francken 1544-1618

(Cornelius Francken)

Isabella Francken

Thomas Francken 1574-1625

Hieronymus II Francken 1578–1623

Frans II Francken 1581-1642

Ambrosius II Francken 1590-1632

Hans Francken 1581 – after 1610

Frans III Francken 1607-1667

Hieronymus III Francken 1611 – after 1661

Ambrosius III Francken 1614-1662

Constantin Francken 1661-1717

gallery

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  Hieronymus I Francken: The Compagnia dei Comici Gelosi at a performance in Paris , around 1590

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  Frans I Francken: The story of Tobias , around 1600

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  Frans II Francken: The Seven Works of Mercy , 1605, German Historical Museum Berlin

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  Hieronymus II Francken: The Last Judgment , 1605–1610

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  Frans II Francken: An art cabinet , 1625

Web links

Commons : Francken  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dictionnaire des peintres belges: Francken

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 7 million euros: world record price at Dorotheum. In: derStandard.at. April 21, 2010, accessed December 13, 2017 .