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Description: | In 1929, W. G. Constable attributed the Russell-Cotes' Last Judgement to Frans Francken the elder (1542-1616). However, on account of its inscription, §D.I. F. FRANCK IN§, it seems more likely that the present picture is by his son, Frans Francken the younger (1581-1642). The Francken family spanned five generations of painters based in Antwerp. Its most important members were Frans the elder, who signed himself §D.O.F.§ (Den Ouden Frans) after 1597, and Frans the younger, who from around this time until his father's death, signed himself §D.I.F.§ (Den Jon Frans). Therefore it would appear that the Russell-Cotes' Last Judgement should be considered an early work by Frans Francken the younger. This would correspond with the artist's development. He was a pupil of his father's and his early works are very similar to those of the elder Frans. However they are distinguishable by the young painter's predilection for the depiction of classicising nude figures. In the foreground of this picture, the standing female nude on the left recalls the ancient Medici Venus, while on the right the male nude with a snake wrapped around his leg and attacked by a devil is a clear reference to the Vatican Laöcoon. The monumental proportions of the muscular figures in this small panel also reveal a clear debt to Michelangelo's Last Judgement, which the artist may have known through engravings. The composition is clearly divided in two parts. At the top, enthroned among the clouds, is Christ flanked by the Virgin on the left and St John the Baptist kneeling on the right. They are accompanied by trumpeting angels. Beneath Christ, mediating between heaven and earth, is St Michael who carries a sword and the scales of justice, and beneath him are crowds of figures, those on the left being guided towards heavenly light and those on the right down into the fires of hell. A very similar, unsigned version of this painting was sold at Christie's in London on 14 December 1984, lot 97. | Subjects: | religion (Last Judgement) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Francken, Frans, II (Flemish painter, 1581-1642) Æ Attributed to Previously attributed to Francken, Frans, I (Flemish painter, 1542-1616) | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8470... | Go to resource |
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