FRANS FRANCKEN THE YOUNGER
Antwerp, 1581-1642
The Triumph of Amphitrite and Neptune
oil on copper, cm 51,4×68
Neptune and Amphitrite, respectively the god of the sea and his consort in classical mythology, are depicted together upon a shell-shaped chariot drawn by sea horses. Around them unfolds the customary retinue of Nereids and Tritons, a great number of which is visible in the distance. This relatively large-scale work on copper, as confirmed by Giancarlo Sestieri, may be attributed to the Flemish painter Frans Francken the Younger, son of Frans Francken I the Elder (1542 – 1616) and a distinguished member of this dynasty of painters from Antwerp. Having travelled to Italy in his youth, Francken the Younger closely studied the Venetian masters, and likely had the opportunity to encounter Peter Paul Rubens, another formative influence on his style. As noted by Sestieri, a particularly close comparison with our work may be drawn with the painting of the same subject, albeit in a smaller scale (cm 30×41) at the Prado Museum in Madrid, to which, it is worth adding the almost identical painting on copper – both in size and subject – of the Chichester Collection at Arlington Court in England.. The stylistic and compositional affinities among the three works on copper are impressive: for instance, the virile figure in the foreground bearing a large fish upon his shoulders – varied yet closely comparable in all paintings in the twisting of the torso and the foreshortening of the muscular body – the types of fantastic marine creatures depicted, and even the overall composition, enriched by a grotto animated with numerous figures.