Frans II Francken (“the Younger”) was born in Antwerp in 1581. His father, Frans Francken the Elder, is considered the founding father of the Francken dynasty of artists, which produced about a dozen painters, including a female artist, Isabella Francken. Frans II, or “the Younger”, was arguably the most talented among them, and definitely the most famous. He undertook several trips to Italy, where he probably first met Rubens. He joined the guild of St Luke in 1605; in 1614, he became the dean of the guild. In 1607, Francken married Elisabeth Plaquet ‘with the special permission of the bishop’. This may have had something to do with the fact that their firstborn son, Frans III Francken (who also became a painter and was trained by his father), was born before the end of the year. Francken was a member of the Antwerp rhetoric chamber De Violieren, for which he painted – in collaboration with Hendrick van Balen, Jan I Brueghel and Sebastiaen Vrancx – a very fine coat of arms, which is still kept in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp today.

Francken was a versatile and prolific painter, producing not only – often small-scale – mythological, biblical, historical and allegorical paintings, mostly painted on copper or panel, but also large-scale altar pieces. He was also an innovator with regard to subject matter, being among the first in painting genre pieces with monkeys and so-called kunstkamer or gallery paintings, depicting artistic and natural treasures in a collector’s gallery. He is also known to have produced small panel paintings as decorations for cabinets, a piece of furniture for which the Antwerp workshops were well-known. As a result of his artistic talent, innovative iconography and business sense, Francken became hugely successful. Already in 1607 he was able to buy a large house in Antwerp where he lived and established his large workshop. As a highly skilled figure painter, Francken often collaborated with others, painting the figures in their landscapes (Joos de Momper, Abraham Govaerts), architectural compositions (Pieter Neeffs) and flower paintings (Jan Brueghel the Elder, Andries Daniels).

 

The present picture, depicting St John the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness, is a characteristic work by the mature Francken, and may be dated to the 1620’s, certainly before 1628, when Francken began signing as “the Elder” as his son Frans III entered the workshop. The subject apparently was a popular one, as Francken produced several other compositions depicting it (e.g. Museo del Prado, inv. no. P001520 or The Crocker Art Museum, inv. no. 1872.129).