Frans Floris

This intriguing, previously unknown drawing is a significant and revealing work by the Antwerp-born painter and draughtsman, Frans Floris. Frans was the most successful and influential of the four artist sons of an Antwerp stone carver, Cornelis Floris de Vriendt (c.1486-1538), who, like at least two of his sons, held high positions in the art establishment of his native city.

Having studied painting with Lambert Lombard in Liège in 1539, Frans set up as an artist in Antwerp, but soon headed for Italy, where he seems to have remained from 1541 until 1547. This lengthy – and, for an artist from the Low Countries, early – stay in Italy fundamentally shaped Floris’s art. He made many drawings after antique sculptures, and also extensively studied Michelangelo’s decorations in the Sistine chapel: both the ceiling and, according to Van Mander, the Last Judgement, completed more or less exactly at the moment when Floris arrived in Rome. Returning to Antwerp, Floris capitalised on his first-hand experiences in Rome, developing a robust and sculptural painting style that found great favour. From this moment until his death in 1570, Floris was Antwerp’s leading artist, running a large and successful studio; indeed, both Guicciardini and Vasari characterised him as the preeminent living painter in the whole of the Netherlands.

The influence of Michelangelo, both compositionally and in terms of figure types, is readily apparent in this surprising drawing. The tumbling sculptural figures are strongly reminiscent of the Last Judgement, even if the actual identity of these figures, and indeed the subject of the whole composition, remain unclear. The scene has traditionally been identified as Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan, but if this really is what is going on here, the main subject is almost absurdly reduced; and how do all the other figures relate to the story? All one can really say is that there is a figure in the foreground holding a trident, that he and most of the other main figures seem to be riding on some sort of billowing curtain, and that many of them look down in the direction of the tiny, lightly sketched couple in the background. So far, no related painting, drawing or print by or after Floris has been identified. Perhaps this is a study for a portion of an ephemeral decoration?

Though the subject, and even the function, of this drawing remain uncertain, we appear to be on solider ground when it comes to the attribution. Not only does the signature seem to be in the same ink as the rest of the drawing, but the distinctive handling, with its strong, often repeated outlines, highly personal facial types and bold use of wash, are all consistent with some of Floris’s most developed drawings, as is the clear debt to Michelangelo. Though clearly different in function and compositional approach, a good comparison can be made, in terms of style and handling, with a drawing such as the roundel design of a Group of Men in Antique Costume, in Munich.¹

Although Frans Floris is not a particularly rare draughtsman in a museum context, significant drawings by him hardly ever come onto the market, so this newly discovered work is a fascinating addition to the corpus of his known drawings.

¹Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, inv. 7998