Frans Francken III

A Young Lady and a Cavalier Holding a Letter

Frans Francken III (1607–1667) was a Flemish Baroque painter and the best known member of the fourth generation of the Francken family of artists.

Life

Francken was born and died in Antwerp. He was the son of Frans Francken II and Elisabeth Placquet and became a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1639. He was dean of the Guild of St. Luke in 1656-66.

He was the teacher of Carstian Luyckx, and Jan Baptist Segaert.

Work

Frans Francken III is known for genre works and portraits, and painted staffage in the works of Pieter Neeffs I and, more frequently, his son Pieter Neeffs II. While his figures generally follow his father's style, they are painted with less accuracy. He was skilled at arranging his figures well in the composition and light.

His cabinet-size history paintings also follow his father's style generally while showing a strong influence of Rubens' style. As a result Frans Francken III was sometimes referred to the 'Rubensschen Francken' (the 'Rubensian Francken').

Family tree

Francken family tree
Nicolaes Francken 1515–1596 Hieronymus Francken I 1540–1610 Frans Francken I 1542–1616 Ambrosius Francken I 1544–1618 (Cornelius Francken) Isabella Francken Thomas Francken 1574–1625 Hieronymus Francken II 1578–1623 Frans Francken II 1581–1642 Ambrosius Francken II 1590–1632 Hans Francken 1581–after 1610 Frans Francken III 1607–1667 Hieronymus Francken III 1611–after 1661 Ambrosius Francken III 1614–1662 Constantijn Francken 1661–1717