Frans Francken d. J. Lot n° 2025

Frans Francken the Younger The Entombment of Christ Oil on copper. 35 x 28,5 cm. Signed lower right: F. Francken In.. Provenance Galerie Fischer, Lucerne 1979, - Frye & Sohn art dealership, Münster. - South German private collection. Literature U. Härting: Frans Francken II, Freren 1989. p. 294, no. 226, illus. p. 256. This painting by the Flemish painter Frans Francken II captivates us with the high quality of its brushwork, its bright colour palette and excellent state of preservation. Saint Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary, Saint John and two Kings from the Orient are gathered in a kind of grotto around the body of Christ, which rests on a white cloth. On the right, the open tomb is ready for the burial, while in the background, through the grotto opening, we see Mount Golgotha with the three empty crosses. Frans Francken created a second composition on the theme of the Entombment now housed in the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen. The work, painted on a marble slab (U. Härting, no. 225), lacks the grotto motif which isolates the mourners and surrounds the scene in the present image. This painting is one of several paintings by Frans Francken II with representations from the Life of Christ. Thematically, they begin with the Adoration of the Magi (Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts) and end with the "Seat of Mercy" (Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe). The penultimate scene is the painting "The Three Marys at the Tomb" (Madison University).