# Art Room [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [FRANCKEN, Frans II]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on wood, 74 x 78 cn ## Commentary In the 17th century there were several royal collections in which 'naturalia' - objects found in nature such as pearls and shells - were mixed with 'arteficialia' - precious man-made objects including coins, medals, paintings, sculptures, Nautilus goblets, astronomical gadgetry, etc. Scientific thought in the early modern era was governed by the principle of 'curiositas' \(curiosity or inquisitiveness\), thus these collections were centres of expansive research. The painting of Frans Francken II shows a good example. <p> <table align=left cellpadding=5 border=1 width=320 bgcolor="\#99cccc"> <tr valign=middle><td><img src="/support/gif/listen.gif" border=0 valign=middle> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 19 minutes\):<br><a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/19\_cent/mussorgsky\_exhibition\_excerpts.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><b>Modest Mussorgsky: Picture from an Exhibition, arr. by Maurice Ravel \(excerpts\)</b></a> </td></tr></table> ## Related artworks - [Allegory on the Abdication of Emperor Charles V in Brussels, 25 October 1555,]() - [An Antique Dealer's Gallery]() - [Arcadia: a Pastoral Landscape]() - [Art Room \(detail\)]() - [Ballroom Scene at a Court in Brussels]() - [Christ in the Garden of Olives]() - [Croesus Showing his Riches to Solon]() - [Crucifixion of St Andrew]() - [Feast of Esther]() - [Sebastiaan Leerse in his Gallery]() - [Supper at the House of Burgomaster Rockox]() - [The Baptism of Christ \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()