The Preaching Of Saint John The Baptist – Workshop Of Frans II Francken (1581 – 1641)

Oil on reinforced oak panel. Antwerp school, early 17th century, workshop of Frans II Francken.
Our painting depicts Saint John the Baptist preaching before an assembly of the faithful. Gathered in a clearing, whether seated, standing, or on horseback, they form a compact crowd that forms a circle around the preacher. A veritable portrait gallery, his audience mixes characters of various ages and backgrounds who adopt very marked attitudes. John the Baptist, modestly dressed and haloed in gold, is set in an elegant contrapposto. He stretches his arm out in front of him, and as he extends, the threatening sky appears to brighten. Did the painter intend to foreshadow the imminent arrival of the Messiah? Matthew, in his Gospel, sets the scene in the desert, while Luke places it on the banks of the Jordan. And our painter transposes it to the edge of a continental forest, recalling that he has never seen these distant lands and demonstrating his talent for painting lush nature. The narrative scenes that show Saint John the Baptist preaching are rare because they are relegated to the background of the more frequent representations of the baptism of Christ or episodes of the Passion.

Our painting is presented in a beautiful frame with an inverted profile and guillochures in blackened wood.
Dimensions: 48 x 60 cm – 64 x 76 cm with the frame

Related works:
- Preaching of John the Baptist, Frans II Francken, oil on panel 37 x 57 cm, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Munich, illustrated in “Frans Francken der Jüngere (1581-1642)” by Ursula Harting no. 89 p. 258.
- Preaching of John the Baptist, Frans II Francken, oil on panel 56 x 91 cm, Museo del Prado Madrid, illustrated in "Frans Francken der Jüngere (1581-1642)" by Ursula Harting no. 90 p. 258.

Biography: Frans II Francken or Frans Francken the Younger (Antwerp 1581 – Id. 1641). Son of Frans I and brother of Hieronymus II and Ambrosius II, he is the most renowned of the Francken dynasty. Excelling in the most diverse genres, he specialized in small and medium-sized paintings (also known as cabinet paintings) and which Rubens called "cose piccole". He painted numerous biblical, mythological and historical scenes in which he represented compact crowds according to the rule of isocephaly. Pushing the glazing technique to perfection, he achieves a delicacy of nuances and effects of fluidity that give all their interest to the figures in the background. The greatest Flemish artists call upon his talent, we thus find the virtuoso groups of Francken in the landscapes of Abraham Govaerts, Joos de Momper or Jan Brueghel I and II, in the architectures of Bartholomeus van Bassen, Pieter Neeffs I or Hendrick van Steenwijck to name but a few.

Bibliography:
- HARTING, Ursula, Frans Francken der Jüngere (1581-1642): die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Freren, Luca, 1989.
- La Dynastie Francken, dir. Sandrine Vézilier Dussart, (exhibition cat., Cassel, Museum of Flanders, September 4, 2021 – January 2, 2022), In Fine, 2020.