Frans Ykens (1601, Antwerp - 1693, Brussels) was a Flemish still life painter active in Antwerp and Brussels in the 17th century. [1] He is mainly known for his flower pieces and fruit still lifes and also painted banquet pieces, pronkstillevens, garland paintings and larger game pieces.
Frans Ykens was baptized on 17 April 1601 in the St Walburga Church in Antwerp. His parents were Frans Ykens I and Johanna Nys. He commenced his artistic study at age 14 with his uncle Osias Beert, the husband of his father's sister. Beert was one of the earliest painters to specialize in still lifes. In 1615 he also studied under his Lucas Floquet the Elder, a history painter, who later became his father-in-law. [2] According to a statementhe made in 1641, he had traveled 12 years earlier (i.e. in 1629) to the Provence where he stayed, amongst others, in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. [3]
Ykens became in 1631 a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. [2] In 1635 he married the flower painter Catarina Ykens (I), who was the daughter of history painter Lucas Floquet I and the sister of three painters. [4]
Ykens was successful and his works were very popular with collectors of his time. He painted for Archduke Leopold in Brussels. His works were collected by Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Poland who purchased his work through Antwerp art dealers Forchondt. He was also very appreciated by his colleagues as is demonstrated by the fact that Rubens owned six of his still lifes. [5]
His success allowed him to acquire a sumptuous dwelling in central Antwerp. In 1665 he moved to Brussels, where he worked until his death. [2] He must have fallen on hard times in his later years as he had to mortgage his property and his possessions were sold off after he died to pay his debts. [3]
Ykens was the teacher of his niece Catarina Ykens (II), Osias Beert (II) and Gilliam Dandoy, who painted in his decorative style. [2] [5]
Frans Ykens' oeuvre is fairly well established as he signed most of his work. [5] All his dated paintings date to his Antwerp years (from 1635 to 1663). [6] He painted mainly flower pieces, garland paintings and fruit still lifes. In addition, he also created a number of breakfast pieces, pronkstillevens and larger pieces with game and dead fish. [7]
Throughout his long career he worked in a number of styles and formats. He was influenced by the work of other still-life painters, including the "breakfast" pieces (ontbijtjes) of Willem Claesz Heda and the pronkstillevens or large sumptuous still lifes of Frans Snyders.
His bouquets of flowers in glass vases are in the manner of Daniel Seghers and Jan Philip van Thielen while his compositions with porcelain bowls of fruit are indebted to the pioneers of this genre, Osias Beert and Jacob van Hulsdonck. [7]
Frans Ykens painted multiple devotional garland paintings. Garland paintings are a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo at the beginning of the 17th century. Other artists involved in the early development of the genre included Hendrick van Balen, Andries Daniels, Peter Paul Rubens and Daniel Seghers. The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement. [8] It was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally. [8] [9]
Garland paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image, portrait or other religious symbol (such as the host). [9] By the second half of the 17th century secular themes such as portraits and mythological subjects also decorated the central part of the many paintings made in this fashion. An example of such later development in garland paintings is the Birth of the red rose (Staatliches Museum Schwerin), a collaboration between Ykens and Cornelis Schut.
Other figure painters with whom Ykens is known to have collaborated on garland paintings include Jacob Jordaens, Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, Jan van den Hoecke, Pieter de Grebber, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert and Pieter van Avont. [3] [10] He probably also collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens. Ykens would paint the flowers and garlands while the other artists painted the remainder of the painting. [11] Unlike other flower painters Frans Ykens would regularly paint the central theme in the garland painting himself. [6]
Media related to Frans Ykens at Wikimedia Commons
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Jan Philip van Thielen or Jan Philips van Thielen was a Flemish painter who specialized in flower pieces and garland paintings. He was a regular collaborator with leading Flemish and Dutch figure painters of his time. Van Thielen was the most popular flower painter in Flanders and his patrons included Diego Felipez de Guzmán, 1st Marquis of Leganés and Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the art-loving governor of the Southern Netherlands.
Jan van den Hoecke was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and designer of wall tapestries. He was one of the principal assistants in Rubens' studio in the 1630s. He later traveled to Italy where he resided for a decade in Rome. He subsequently worked as a court painter in Vienna and Brussels. Jan van den Hoecke was a versatile artist who created portraits as well as history and allegorical paintings.
Erasmus Quellinus the Younger or Erasmus Quellinus II (1607–1678) was a Flemish painter, engraver, draughtsman and tapestry designer who worked in various genres including history, portrait, allegorical, battle and animal paintings. He was a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens and one of the closest collaborators of Rubens in the 1630s. Following Rubens' death in 1640 he became one of the most successful painters in Flanders. He was a prolific draughtsman who made designs for decorative programmes in the context of official celebrations, for publications by the local publishers and for tapestries and sculptures realised by the local workshops. His work reveals the Classicist trend in the Baroque.
Flemish Baroque painting was a style of painting in the Southern Netherlands during Spanish control in the 16th and 17th centuries. The period roughly begins when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south with the Spanish recapturing of Antwerp in 1585 and goes until about 1700, when Spanish Habsburg authority ended with the death of King Charles II. Antwerp, home to the prominent artists Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Jacob Jordaens, was the artistic nexus, while other notable cities include Brussels and Ghent.
Cornelis Schut was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, engraver and tapestry designer who specialized in religious and mythological scenes. Presumed to have trained under Rubens, he treated Counter-Reformation subjects in a High-Baroque style. After a stay in Italy, he worked mainly in Antwerp where he was one of the leading history painters in the first half of the 17th century.
Osias Beert or Osias Beert the Elder was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp who played an important role in the early development of flower and "breakfast"-type still lifes as independent genres in Northern European art. He has been recognized as one of the most influential artists of the earliest generation of still life painters in Flanders. He contributed in particular to the development of still lifes placed on table tops featuring festive culinary delights as well as of sumptuous floral bouquets, typically displayed in Wan Li vases.
Daniël Seghers or Daniel Seghers was a Flemish Jesuit brother and painter who specialized in flower still lifes. He is particularly well known for his contributions to the genre of flower garland painting. His paintings were collected enthusiastically by aristocratic patrons and he had numerous followers and imitators.
Jacob Foppens van Es, Jacob Fopsen van Es or Jacob van Es was a Flemish Baroque painter known for his still lifes mainly of food and occasionally flower paintings. He collaborated with other artists on garland paintings. Together with Osias Beert and Clara Peeters, he was one of the leading representatives of the first generation in Flemish still-life painting.
Jan van den Hecke or Jan van den Hecke the Elder (1620–1684) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman, printmaker and engraver, mainly known for his still lifes, landscapes and battle scenes. After training in Antwerp, he spent time in Rome, where he had important patrons. After his return to Flanders, he worked for a while in Brussels, probably painting flower still lifes for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the Austrian governor of the Spanish Netherlands, before returning to work in Antwerp.
Joris van Son or Georg van Son was a Flemish still life painter who worked in a number of sub-genres but is principally known for his still lifes of fruit. He also painted flowers, banquets, vanitas still lifes and pronkstillevens. He is known to have painted fish still lifes representing the Four Elements, and also collaborated with figure artists on 'garland paintings', which typically represent a devotional image framed by a fruit or flower garland.
Carstian Luyckx, also known as the Monogrammist KL, was a Flemish painter and draughtsman who specialized in still lifes in various subgenres including flower still lifes, fruit still lifes, fish still lifes, pronkstillevens, vanitas still lifes, hunting pieces and garland paintings. He also painted animals and a few genre scenes. After starting his career in Antwerp he is believed to have worked later in France.
Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Elder was a Flemish painter of flowers and garland paintings.
Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen or Gasparo Pedro Verbruggen was a Flemish still life painter who is principally known for his decorative still lifes with flowers and fruit. He collaborated with figure artists on compositions which combined figures with a still life element. He was active in Antwerp and The Hague.
Catarina Ykens or Catarina Ykens (I) (née Floquet) (1608/1618 – after 1666) was a Flemish still life painter. She is known for flower and fruit garland paintings and vanitas paintings.
Catarina or Catharina Ykens or Catarina Ykens (II) (1659 - 1737 or later) was a Flemish painter. The few surviving paintings attributed to her are still lifes but she is also known to have painted history paintings with biblical themes.
Wouter Gysaerts or Gualterus Gysaerts was a Flemish still life painter who specialized in flower pieces and garlands.
Philips de Marlier was a Flemish Baroque painter and copyist mainly known for his still lifes of flowers and garland paintings.
Andries Bosman or Andries Bosmans was a Flemish priest and painter, who specialized in flower paintings and was mainly active in Antwerp and Rome. He was particularly known for collaborative paintings in which he painted flower garlands around religious scenes or portraits painted by a specialist figure painter.
Peter van Kessel or Peeter van Kessel was a Flemish still life painter who worked in a number of sub-genres but is principally known for his flower pieces, game pieces, garland paintings and vanitas paintings. He trained in Antwerp but mainly worked abroad, and in particular in Northern Europe.
Maria Tassaert was a Flemish still life painter active in Antwerp. She had a short career during which she painted garland paintings, a type of still life painting comprising a garland of flowers around a devotional or other image. She was a member of the Tassaert family of artists, which was active in the Habsburg Netherlands, France, Prussia and England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
