Franciscus van der Steen after Van Dyck - Drunken Silenus KG-03437

Franciscus van der Steen (Antwerp, c. 1625 – Vienna, 1672) was a Flemish painter and engraver who was active in Vienna. He is now mainly known for his reproductive prints after master paintings and various publications containing portraits of prominent persons.Franciscus van der Steen
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

No known paintings are currently attributed to him.Miroslav Kindl, ''Die niederländischen Künstler der zweiten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts in Diensten der Fürsten von Liechtenstein in Feldsberg (Valtice)''
in: Liechtensteinisch-Tschechische Historikerkommission (Hrsg.), 'Die Liechtenstein und die Kunst' Band 3, Vaduz, HWFL, 2014, pp. 172-173

Life

Franciscus van der Steen is believed to have been born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

somewhere between 1615 and 1635. In the guild year 1638-39 he registered as a pupil of the engraver

Alexander Voet the Elder Alexander Voet the Elder or Alexander Voet I (10 September 1608 (or possibly in 1613) in Antwerp – 1 October 1689 in Antwerp) was a Flemish engraver, print artist and publisher. He was one of the leading engravers and publishers in Antwerp ...

in the registers of the Antwerp

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...

. He became a master in the Antwerp Guild in the guild year 1643-1644. He is one of the Flemish and Dutch artists, such as

Nikolaus van Hoy Nikolaas van Hoy, known in Austria as Nikolaus van Hoy (alternative spellings of family name: 'van Hoey' and 'van Hoj') (b. Antwerp, 1631 - d. Vienna, 25 June 1679) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman and etcher. Life He was born in Antwe ...

Jan Anton van der Baren Jan Anton van der Baren (1615 – 30 or 31 December 1686) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish painter, draughtsman, priest and museum curator active in Brussels and Vienna. He specialised in still lifes of flowers and vegetables, some of which in ...

and

Jan van Ossenbeeck Jan van Ossenbeeck (1623, Rotterdam – 1674, Vienna), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography According to Houbraken, who was quoting Sandrart, he painted in the manner of Pieter van Laer.Archduke Leopold Wilhelm Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (5 January 1614 – 20 November 1662), younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand III, was an Austrian soldier, administrator and patron of the arts. He held a number of military commands, with limited success, and ...

, the art loving governor of the Southern Netherlands, upon his return to Vienna in 1656. Shortly after his arrival in Vienna in 1656, van der Steen asked the court chancellery for court quarters (i.e. accommodation) and in the same year he was appointed court etcher to Emperor Ferdinand III with an annual income of 1200 gulden. This sum was reduced to 800 gulden the following year.Guido Messling, ''Point of View #14''
at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Arolsen Klebeband 02 179

Franciscus van der Steen operated a workshop in Vienna. On 8 January 1662, van der Steen signed his name in the ecclesiastical registers of the Schottenkirche (Scottish church) in Vienna as he, together with the Flemish painter

Jan de Herdt Jan de Herdt, in Italy also called Il fiammingoVariations of name: Jan Daniel de Herdt, Jan de Herde, Jan de Hert, Giovanni de Hert, Giovanni Darto, Giovanni Darto Fiamingo, Joannes de Hart, de HerdeMiroslav Kindl, ''Jan de Herdt, Nizozemí, Itá ...

, acted as a witnesses at the wedding of the Dutch landscape painter

Hans de Jode Hans de Jode or Jan de Jode (The Hague, 1630 – Vienna, after 1662) was a Dutch Republic, Dutch painter known for his Sea, marine paintings, harbour scenes and Italianate landscapes. He left his native Holland at an early age and worked in Ven ...

. Van der Steen and Jan de Herdt later collaborated on a series of aristocratic portraits for the publication ''Historia di Lepoldo Cesare''.Miroslav Kindl, ''Jan de Herdt, Nizozemí, Itálie, střední Evropa'', diploma work for Palacký University in Olomouc, Department of History of Art, promoter: Dr. Ladislav Daniel His compatriot, the landscape painter

Renier Meganck Renier Meganck (Brussels, baptised on 14 September 1637 – Vienna, 27 November 1690) was a Flemish painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and still lifes. After training in Brussels and working in Ghent, he worked in Central Europe ...

, joined his workshop around 1670. In 1671 Meganck acted as a witness and sealed the last will of Franciscus van der Steen. Van der Steen died not much later in early 1672.

Work

Franciscus van der Steen is principally known as a reproductive engraver who made engravings after old masters and contemporary artists. The archival sources also show him in the role of a painter. The Liechtenstein books of accounts record that van der Steen was paid 465 gulden for paintings in August 1665, 120 gulden in September of the same year and a further 34 gulden and 30 kreutzer for five more paintings in July 1667. No paintings are currently attributed to van der Steen. He worked together with

, Jan van Ossenbeeck and others on engravings for

David Teniers the Younger David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile arti ...

's ''

Theatrum Pictorium ''Theatrum Pictorium'', or ''Theatre of Painting'', is a short-hand name of a book published in the 1660s by David Teniers the Younger for his employer, the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. It was a catalog of 243 Italian paintings in the Ar ...

''. This ''

'' is a shortened name of a book published in 1660 in Antwerp by

's brother

Abraham Teniers Abraham Teniers (1 March 1629 – 26 September 1670) was a Flemish painter and engraver who specialized in genre paintings of villages, inns and monkey scenes. He was a member of artist family Teniers which came to prominence in the 17th century ...

in Antwerp. It was a catalog of 243 Italian paintings in the collection of over 1300 pictures owned by Teniers' employer, the

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (5 January 1614 – 20 November 1662), younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand III, was an Austrian soldier, administrator and patron of the arts. He held a number of military commands, with limited success, and ...

. It contained engravings of these paintings engraved after small models (

modelli A modello (plural modelli), from Italian, is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron. The term gained currency in art circl ...

) that Teniers had painted after the originals.''Theatrum Pictorium''
– Frontispiece at the British Museum A second edition with page numbers was published in 1673. Nikolaus van Hoy worked as the intermediary draughtsman for several of the prints as he translated the modelli made by Teniers into drawings.''David Teniers and the Theatre of Painting, 19 October 2006 to 21 January 2007''
at the Courtauld Institute Of Art These were then engraved by van der Steen and 11 other engravers. The publication ends with an engraving by van der Steen after a drawing by Nicolaus van Hoy of a view of the

Stallburg The Stallburg is a renaissance-style building in the Vienna city center located between Josefsplatz and Michaelerplatz. It is part of the Hofburg Palace. Formerly the living quarters of Archduke Maximilian , later Emperor Maximilian II, it was b ...

gallery of the Archduke. He also worked with the Antwerp publisher and engraver

Joannes Meyssens Joannes (Johannes, Jan, or Jean) Meyssens (17 May 1612 – 18 September 1670), was a Flemish Baroque painter, engraver, and print publisher. Life He was born in Brussels, but moved to Antwerp at an early age, where he became master of the G ...

on portrait engravings for ''

Het Gulden Cabinet ''Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const'' or ''The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Liberal Art of Painting'' is a book by the 17th-century Flemish notary and ''Chamber of rhetoric, rederijker'' Cornelis de Bie published in Antwerp. Writte ...

der Edel Vry Schilderconst'', the book of artist biographies written by

Cornelis de Bie Cornelis de Bie (10 February 1627 – ) was a Flemish '' rederijker'', poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier. He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies. He is known internationally today for his biographical sketches of Flemish ...

first published in 1662. He worked again with Nikolaus van Hoy and Jan van Ossenbeeck on a publishing project on the occasion of the wedding of

Emperor Leopold I Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; hu, I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria An ...

and

Margaret Theresa of Spain Margaret Theresa of Spain ( es, link=no, Margarita Teresa, german: link=no, Margarete Theresia; 12 July 1651 – 12 March 1673) was, by marriage to Leopold I, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and B ...

. It describes the festival, including a horse ballet, that was performed in January 1667, under the direction of Alessandro Carducci, with floats designed by Carlo Pasetti and a text written by

Francesco Sbarra Francesco Sbarra (19 February 1611 – 20 March 1668) was an Italian poet and librettist. Born in Lucca, he spent most of his career in Austria where he wrote the librettos for entertainments and operas at the courts of Archduke Ferdinand Charle ...

. The book was published in 1667 in Vienna under the title ''Sieg-Streit Deß Lufft vnd Wassers'' ('Fight between air and water').Sieg-Streit Deß Lufft vnd Wassers
at Historické fondy He further collaborated on the publication ''Historia di Leopoldo Cesare'' written by Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato and published in Vienna by the Flemish publisher from Antwerp

Johann Baptist Hacque Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

. The first and second volumes of the book were published in 1670 and a third one in 1674. The first volume described the political and military successes of Emperor Leopold I between 1656 and 1670. It was mainly illustrated with prints made by Flemish and Dutch printmakers after designs by other Netherlandish artists as well as artists from Germany and Italy. The illustrations mainly depict portraits of European monarchs and important aristocrats, castle scenes, battle scenes, maps and ceremonies. Apart from van der Steen, the Dutch and Flemish artists who contributed to the work were

Frans Geffels Frans Geffels, known in Italy as Francesco Geffels (25 August 1624 – 18 February 1694) was a Flemish painter, printmaker, architect, stage designer and designer of ephemeral structures for solemn and festive occasions.Miroslav Kindl, ''Die nied ...

Cornelis Meyssens Cornelis Meyssens or Cornelis Meijssens (Antwerp, before 1638/39 – Vienna (?)) was a Flemish engraver and printmaker, known for his reproductive prints after famous painters and portraits. He trained in his native Antwerp and later moved to Vi ...

Gerard Bouttats Gerard Bouttats or Gerhardt Bouttats (Antwerp, circa 1630 – probably Vienna after 1668) was a Flemish people, Flemish, draughtsman engraver and printmaker, known for his prints of portraits, allegories, and devotional works.

Adriaen van Bloemen Adriaen van Bloemen or Adriaen Bloem (baptized on 27 February 1639 – c. 1697) was a Flemish painter, print designer, draughtsman and engraver. He was mainly a portrait artist who created individual and group portraits. He left his native Antw ...

, Sebastian van Dryweghen and

Jacob Toorenvliet Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works. Biography Toorenvliet was born in Leiden, to Abraham Toorenvliet (1620–1692), a glass painter and drawing instructor. The younger Toorenvliet first studied art wit ...

. German artists Moritz Lang, Johann Martin Lerch and Johann Holst and Italians Il Bianchi, Marco Boschini and Leonardus Hen.t Venetiis also contributed.Miroslav Kindl, ''Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato (1606 Vicenza – 1678 Vicenza), Historia di Leopoldo Cesare I–III, 1670–1674''
at Muzeum Umění Olomouc

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steen, Franciscus van der 1625 births 1672 deaths Flemish engravers Painters from Antwerp