Flemish painter, brother of Hieronymus Francken I. He became a master in the Antwerp GuildGLOSSARYAn association of the masters of a particular craft, trade or profession (painters, goldsmiths, surgeons, and so on) set up to protect its members' rights and interests. Such guilds existed in virtually every European city in the 16th century. The guild also monitored standards of work, acted as a court for those who brought their trade into disrepute, and provided assistance to members in need. of St Luke in 1567 and a deaconGLOSSARYa minister who was below the rank of priest in the Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches. Deacons originally cared for both the sick and the poor in early Christian communities. in 1587. Together with Marten de Vos and Frans Floris, Frans I and his brother Ambrosius I were the most important painters in Catholic Antwerp during the Counter-ReformationGLOSSARYTerm in ecclesiastical history referring to the reform of the entire Church which was widely believed to be necessary as early as the late Middle Ages. Reform programs, such as those passed by the Councils of Constance (1414-1418) and Basle (1431-1437 and 1448) or the 5th Lateran Council (1512-1517), did not achieve any lasting results. Not until the Protestant Reformation were the Pope and Roman Curia forced to take specific action against abuse of position, declining moral standards, the selling of indulgences and excesses in the worship of saints and relics. With the Laetere Jerusalem (1544) bull. Pope Paul III (1534-1549) was responsible for the convocation of the Council of Trent which, in three separate sessions between 15445 and 1563, started the process of inner reform in the Church.. After the Iconoclastic Fury, the brothers received a number of ecclesiastical commissions to replace works destroyed in the churches in and around the city (e.g. for the St Waltrudiskerk, Herentals, and the St Maartenskerk, Aalst). Huge altarpieces, such as the Last Judgement for Herentals, with the figures ranged in rows as in a friezeGLOSSARYa horizontal band of architectural decoration; in a classical entablature, the horizontal member band between the architrave and the cornice., with very little depth or breadth, illustrate Frans I's hieroglyphic style. His earliest surviving works are two panels of a triptychGLOSSARYA painting in three sections, usually an altarpiece, consisting of a central panel and two outer panels, or wings. In many medieval triptychs the two outer wings were hinged so that could be closed over the center panel. Early triptychs were often portable. of the Last SupperGLOSSARYChrist's last meal with His disciples before His arrest and trial; the rite of communion is based on this. One of most famous depictions of the event is a fresco painted by Leonardo da Vinci. (1581) painted for the high altar of the cathedralGLOSSARYThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed. of St Bavo in Ghent. His masterpieceGLOSSARYA term now loosely applied to the finest work by a particular artist or to any work of art of acknowledged greatness or of preeminence in its field. Originally it meant the piece of work by which a craftsman, having finished his training, gained the rank of'master' in his guild., a triptych of Christ among the Scribes for Antwerp Cathedral (1587), remains in situ: its figures with their reticent gestures are rather wooden in effect, but the heads indicate the artist's skill for portraiture.
Frans I's hand has been recognized in some court portraits, which account for his talent in this area. As well as large-scale commissions, Frans I also painted small-scale cabinetGLOSSARYA small, private room where works of art, valuables and curiosities were kept and contemplated at leisure; over time the term was used for the collections themselves. Renaissance cabinets played an important role in the development of museums and art galleries. pictures (e.g. Belshazzar's Feast, Stockholm University, Kunstsammlung), a genreGLOSSARYIn a broad sense, the term is used to mean a particular branch or category of art; landscape and portraiture, for example, are genres of painting, and the essay and the short story are genres of literature. continued and perfected by his sons Frans II and Hieronymus II. However, Christ Carrying the Cross (1597; Dresden, Gemaldegalerie) is so far the only known signed and dated cabinet picture by Frans I.
