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Lot Essay
This signed and dated Adoration of the Shepherds is a rare example of a painting on marble by Frans Francken II. In leaving the surface unpainted in much of the background, Francken allows the white marble to suggest a pale, wintry sky, while thin strokes of greenish brown against the exposed stone define the contours of the barren hills. The beautifully preserved glazes and painstaking attention to detail – the cobwebs in the corner of the barn; the beams of light emanating from the lantern; the shadow of the knife falling on the shepherd’s coat; and the stalks of wheat in the manger – demonstrate the influence of both earlier Flemish painting and the innovations of Peter Paul Rubens.
Frans Francken II was the most successful and highly regarded member of an artistic dynasty that stretched over three generations. In his maturity, after circa 1620, he began to sign his works with the letters ‘d.o.’ (der ouden, or the elder), so as to distinguish his paintings from those of his son, Frans Francken III.
As illustrated by the recent landmark exhibition, Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530-1800, stone supports for paintings never gained popularity in the Low Countries as they did in Italy (J. Mann, ed., Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530-1800, exhibition catalogue, Saint Louis, 2022). In 1621, the date of the present painting, Hendrick van Balen executed a series of eight scenes from the Life of the Virgin, including an Adoration of the Shepherds, for the Houtappel Chapel in Antwerp’s newly completed Jesuit Church (fig. 1). Van Balen painted directly on the marble and alabaster altar frame, a groundbreaking approach that was without precedent in Antwerp. The present painting on marble by Francken may be his response to van Balen’s cycle, executed within a few months of its completion.
Frans Francken II was the most successful and highly regarded member of an artistic dynasty that stretched over three generations. In his maturity, after circa 1620, he began to sign his works with the letters ‘d.o.’ (der ouden, or the elder), so as to distinguish his paintings from those of his son, Frans Francken III.
As illustrated by the recent landmark exhibition, Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530-1800, stone supports for paintings never gained popularity in the Low Countries as they did in Italy (J. Mann, ed., Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530-1800, exhibition catalogue, Saint Louis, 2022). In 1621, the date of the present painting, Hendrick van Balen executed a series of eight scenes from the Life of the Virgin, including an Adoration of the Shepherds, for the Houtappel Chapel in Antwerp’s newly completed Jesuit Church (fig. 1). Van Balen painted directly on the marble and alabaster altar frame, a groundbreaking approach that was without precedent in Antwerp. The present painting on marble by Francken may be his response to van Balen’s cycle, executed within a few months of its completion.