Francken family

While this may at the time have been effective as a marketing method by ensuring continuity of the family business, today's legacy is some confusion in the attribution of paintings, which often do not differ widely in style or execution between the various family members.

The confusion is exacerbated by the signing practices of some family members: when Frans I's son Frans II reached his majority and began to sign paintings, Frans I started to add "the elder" to his signature to distinguish himself from his son, who then signed his works as "the younger".

[2] He was married to Lucia van de Broeck from Mechelen with whom he had five children.

His practice was chiefly confined to adding figures to the architectural or landscape pieces of other artists.

[5] Frans III often introduced staffage into the works of Pieter Neefs the Younger.