FRANCKEN; HIERONYMUS II
Antwerp 1578 - 1623

Festive Group. Oil on copper. 44 x 65;5cm. Signed lower right: Den ion frank f. Framed.

In her certificate Dr. Ursula H鋜ting determines the painting as a work of the Antwerp painter Hieronymus Francken II. and supposes that it can be dated ca. 1607. She explains that the signature would be: "an abbreviation for: Den iongen Franck fecit (the young Francken made it)". This is indicative for one of the two brothers Frans II. and
Hieronymus II. who were active in the workshop of their father; Frans Francken the older (1542-1616). Dr. H鋜ting does not doubt that the painter of this painting is Hieronymus II. because of the "characteristic slightly thickset figures with darkly accentuated physiognomies."
The painting shows a group of people dancing a Pavane d'Espagne; which; according to Dr. H鋜ting; is a "processional dance with 閜閑 and cloak"; a new dance; "which was presumably introduced in the South of the Netherlands around 1600." This kind of depiction of a dance banquet is "an invention coming from the atelier of the painter dynasty Francken around 1600 [.] This invention caused the painterly developement of this subject all over Europe."

Verso:
On the copper panel embossing of the panel maker Pieter Stas (ca. 1565 - after 1616) and the Antwerp Gild as well as further embossing: PGK.
Art trade; Van Ham.