Attributed to Frans Francken the Elder

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Frans Francken the Elder
The Martyrdom of Saint John the Apostle
signed lower right: O ^. FFRANCK^.F (FF in ligature)
oil on panel, the reverse with the star symbol of an Antwerp panel maker, and with remains of the stamp of the Antwerp Panel Makers Guild

Catalogue Note

This picture is a copy of the interior of the right wing of the Saint John Altarpiece, by Quinten Metsys (1466-1530) (Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv. no. 248), commissioned for the chapter of the joiners' guild in Antwerp Cathedral in 1508 and completed by 26 August 1511. During the mid-century iconoclastic frenzy, the Antwerp painter Marten de Vos (1532-1603) saved the triptych, which was subsequently bought by the city and placed in the Stadhuis, before returning to the cathedral in 1599.

The signature on this work identifies the hand of Frans Francken the Elder. Professor Dr Jan de Maere has suggested that the painting may be a very early work by his son, Frans Francken the Younger. Both artists would certainly have had occasion to study the altarpiece as the work of an artist considered, until the dawn of Rubens' career, to be the city's greatest painter. It was typical of the Antwerp artists' practice to copy Metsys' prototypes.