(Antwerp 1581–1642)
Croesus showing Solon his riches,
signed at lower right: D. O... FF.,
oil on copper, 55 x 72,5 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 13 April 2011, lot 469;
Private European collection

This impressively crowded composition is one of the most important discoveries in Francken’s oeuvre. No other version of the painting, which ranks among the most splendid works by this Antwerp master, is known to Ursula Härting, who has examined it in the original. It exhibits both Francken’s technical perfection and the elegance of his compositions. In spite of the technically ambitious application of the paint in the form of delicate glazes, the artist never loses the spontaneity of his brushwork, which turns the facial features of his protagonists into impressive character studies. The artistic quality of this painter, who has eventually been adequately recognised on the art market, also reveals itself in the amalgamation of various stylistic influences. While the background is entirely in the tradition of late sixteenth-century landscape painting, the king’s exotic garments betray the preferences of the upcoming Baroque. Francken also drew his inspirations from Roman antiquity, whose formal vocabulary had been re-discovered during the High Renaissance. For instance, the magnificent vessels in the left foreground refer to copper engravings by Vredeman de Vries after Roman grotesque decorations. The luxurious buffet with its curved pillars is reminiscent of designs by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. Francken has united these influences in his re-interpretation of the antique subject of hubris and penitence within a panorama of a contemporary landscape.

The artist chose two levels of narrative when he illustrated Herodotus’s story about the fate of King Croesus, whose hubris took him to the funeral pyre and the brink of death. In the foreground the proverbially rich Croesus shows his treasures to Solon, a wise thinker. In the background Croesus is depicted on the pyre, having been sentenced to die at the stake by Cyrus the Great of Persia. Croesus remembers Solon’s advice and calls his name; upon declaring his remorse, Cyrus pardons him. This re-discovery, a virtuoso fusion of multiple levels in terms of both style and iconography, is an impressive example of Francken’s great skill as a painter.