Lucas Franchoys the Younger or Lucas Franchoys IIalternative spellings of name: Lucas Franchois, Lucas François, Louis Franchoys (28 June 1616 in

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

– 3 April 1681 in Mechelen) was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

from

, who painted numerous

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

s and portraits in a style reminiscent of

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

.Hans Vlieghe. "Franchoys."
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 4 April 2014

Life

Lucas Franchoys the Younger - St Gregory

He first learned to paint from his father Lucas Franchoys the Elder in his native Mechelen.Lucas Franchoys (II)
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 ...

Just like his older brother

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

before him, he likely continued his training 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,

, then the centre of Flemish painting. The early biographer

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 ...

mentions a period of training with

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

but there is no other evidence for this. The first record of his paintings dates to 1649 when he was working on commissions for churches in

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...

, where he lived for some years. The early biographer

states that Franchoys resided for a longer period in France but this may be due to confusion based on his residence in Tournai in the French-speaking part of the

Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...

close to France. He returned to Mechelen by 1654 and became master of the local

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 ...

the following year. In 1663 he became the deacon of the Guild. In Mechelen he received many commissions from churches, monasteries and convents for altarpieces and other religious paintings. He also painted portraits including that of his patron Archbishop Alphonse de Bergues. He married Suzanne Thérèse and the couple had 8 children, of whom Lucas Elias became a painter. He was the teacher of Sebastiaen van Aken.

Work

Lucas Franchoys the Younger - Daniel Seghers Commissions his Portrait from Lucas Franchoys

The early

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

biographer

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadtwisting'' (Twyndraat) fr ...

wrote that Lucas Franchoys was known for his portraits and historical allegories, in which the hand of Peter Paul Rubens could easily be recognized.Lucas Franchoys biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

However, Franchoys' style is more closely linked with that of

than that of Rubens. Through his many monumental altarpieces in churches in Tournai and in Mechelen Franchoys built a reputation as one of the leading religious painters of the second half of the 17th century. These works show the influence of the later works of Anthony van Dyck, after which Franchoys made several etchings and with whom he also collaborated. Franchoys tends to emphasize emotionality in his religious iconography. The style in his early paintings from his time in Tournai is not mature and suffers from cramped composition and the painting of robust figures. His later works painted in Mechelen display a more effective composition of the figures and more expressiveness in the poses. In this later work Franchoys shows a strong similarity with the work of

Pieter Thijs Pieter Thijs, Peter Thijs or Pieter Thys (Antwerp, 1624 – Antwerp, 1677) was a Flemish painter of portraits as well as religious and history paintings. He was a very successful artist who worked for the courts in Brussels and The Hague as wel ...

, another contemporary working under the influence of van Dyck. Franchoys' portraits depict his sitters in a calculated informality in the style van Dyck's portraits. His self-portrait, only known from an engraving by Coenraet Waumans, is close in style to the engraved artist portraits in van Dyck's 'Iconography'. He collaborated with many contemporary painters including

Lucas Achtschellinck Lucas Achtschellinck (baptized 16 January 1626 – buried 12 May 1699), was a Flemish landscape painter. Lucas Achts ...

, Jacques d'Arthois, Gregoire Beerings,

Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg or Willem Schubart van Ehrenberg (also: Wilhem Schubert von Ehrenberg or Wilhem Schubert van Ehrenberg ( Antwerp, 1630 or 1637– Antwerp, c. 1676) was a Flemish painter mainly active in Antwerp who specialized i ...

, Egide Smeyers and

Frans Snyders Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders (11 November 1579, Antwerp – 19 August 1657, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes and still lifes. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers and he is credited with ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franchoys The Younger, Lucas Flemish Baroque painters Flemish portrait painters Flemish history painters 1616 births 1681 deaths Painters from Mechelen