Hieronymus Francken II

Along with his brother Frans Francken II he played an important role in the development of new genres in Flemish art in the early 17th century.

[4] He became in 1618 a consultor of the 'Sodaliteit van de bejaerde jongmans' (Sodality of the Unmarried Men of Age), a fraternity for bachelors established by the Jesuit order.

[6] Typical characteristics of Hieronymus' work are the use of broad brush strokes and earth colours, such as brick-red and variations of brown tones.

They typically represent anonymous events where couples or larger groups of elegant persons are dancing on music in an interior.

It is possible that the brothers developed this subject under the influence of their uncle Hieronymus Francken I under whom they may have studied briefly during a presumed residence in Paris.

[6][8] Another still life in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp referred to as the Poor Man's Meal has been attributed to Hieronymus II.

[10] Frans Francken the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder were the first artists to create paintings of art and curiosity collections in the 1620s.

The earliest works in this genre depicted art objects together with other items such as scientific instruments or peculiar natural specimens.

The best known of these pictures is The Archdukes Albert and Isabella Visiting a Collector's Cabinet, which is now generally regarded as a collaboration between Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hieronymus Francken II even though some see the hand of van Stalbemt here too.

This includes the composition The Sciences and Arts and the reduced replica of the lower right hand corner called The Geographer and the Naturalist (both in the Prado).

During this early 'encyclopaedic' phase, the genre reflected the culture of curiosity of that time, when art works, scientific instruments, naturalia and artificialia were equally the object of study and admiration.

As a result, the cabinets depicted in these compositions are populated by persons who appear to be as interested in discussing scientific instruments as in admiring paintings.

[13] Hieronymus' brother Frans the Younger had contributed to the development of the genre of the 'monkey scene', also called 'singerie' (a word, which in French means a 'comical grimace, behaviour or trick').