Nicolás Francés (died 1468) was a Spanish painter and miniaturist.

Early life

Originally from

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

, Francés has been documented as residing in

León, Spain León (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the province of León, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It has a population of 124,303 (2019), ...

since before 1434 and until May 1468, the date of his death. He worked on an altarpiece for the

León Cathedral Santa María de Regla de León Cathedral is a Catholic church, the episcopal see of the diocese of León in the city of León, Castile and León, north-western Spain, consecrated under the name of the Virgin Mary. It was the first monument d ...

, around July 25, 1434. A year later he had fixed his residence along with his wife Juana Martinez to Cardiles Street, in a house owned by the city council. By 1461 the painter had executed major expansions to the house. He added a kitchen with cellar, yard, well, stable and barn, and farms.

León Cathedral

The old altar of the León Cathedral, made up of more than a hundred tables, was since dismantled in 1740 after being replaced by another Baroque altarpiece. Only five of the eighteen major scenes were embedded in the current neomudéjar altarpiece, and a score of smaller tables occupying the grooves, reused in the episcopal chair of the same presbytery. The motifs represented, with a major feature anecdotal painter and symbolic content, are scenes from the lives of San Froilan, Bishop of Leon, and the Virgin Mary. Also characteristic are the bright colors that highlight the table, which according to Sánchez Canton, Francés is the first painter to handle the

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

technique in Castile, after similar work by

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( ; ; – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Nort ...

, although in fact it is a

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

painting with glazes.

Additional work

Francés continuously worked to serve the city council as shown by a document from 1445, where it was said that he had become very necessary for the work at the Cathedral. In 1452 the cathedral chapter entrusted to toe painting a mural temple Doomsday, destroyed in the early nineteenth century. In preparation he traveled to

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

to study Judgement fresco painted a few years ago by

Nicholas Florentino Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In turn, the name ...

in the Old Cathedral. In 1459 he started the decoration of the cloister, hired ten years ago, for which he made a series of thirty-one evangelical matters murals, of which twenty have arrived in poor condition. Providing additional information on the progress of the project, fabric and revenue books of the cathedral documented many related orders of various kinds, from providing the lead for the windows of the chapel of San Fabian and San Sebastián (now Santa Teresa), where the paintings are also murals dating from 1459, the gold of the organs, cleaning a statue of the Virgin or painting a banner. In the same cathedral there are some additional paintings with some other murals in the apse chapels and traces of the windows of the door of the Virgen del Dado, also attributed to Francés.

Style

The cathedral altarpiece paintings documented, along with a picture of the Nativity, allegedly signed with an "N" in a hymnal of the collegiate

Basilica of San Isidoro In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East ...

, helped define his style of painting, which combines the clarity and Italian Flemish attention to detail, and attribute some other works, among which the Altarpiece of the

Life of the Virgin The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the ...

and Saint Francis (Museo del Prado), from Chapel Farm Esteva of Delights in the vicinity of La Bañeza. Acquired by the state between 1930 and 1932, the altarpiece, painted perhaps for an unknown Franciscan monastery consists of nine large tables on three streets and three bodies, with the Virgin and Child enthroned between angels in the central panel, scenes the life of St. Francis of Assisi on the left and right, and sixteen small panels with apostles and prophets. His work is considered one of St. Jerome altarpiece owned by the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

and a possible table altarpiece dedicated to

St. Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

that resides in

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...

was also attributed to Francés. An "early work", the altarpiece Counter Hood Saldana Lopez at the

Royal Convent of Santa Clara The Royal Convent of Santa Clara is a nunnery in Tordesillas, Spain. Founded by king Pedro of Castile in 1363, this convent of Poor Clares is now under the administration of Spain's national heritage organisation, the Patrimonio Nacional but sti ...

is also attributed to him, probably using imported labor.

References

* Azcarate, José María, Gothic Art in Spain, Madrid, Chair, 2000, , p. 350-352. * Museo Nacional del Prado, Spanish Painting from Romanesque to Renaissance, Madrid, 2010, , pp. 22–23. * Gutiérrez Rebollo, Carmen, "Maese Nicolás Francés: his work and style. State of the "Art, 6, 2007, p. 107-130. * Sanchez Canton, FJ, Master Nicholas French, Madrid, CSIC, Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1964, Legal Deposit, M. 8383-1964 * Villanueva Lázaro, José María, ''La ciudad de León: del gótico-mudéjar a nuestros días: siglos XIV-XX'' (''The city of León: From the Gothic-Mudejar our days: 14th-20th Centuries''), Leon, 1980, {{DEFAULTSORT:Frances, Nicolas 15th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters Year of birth unknown 1468 deaths