The Seven Works of Mercy

Frans II Francken 1581 - 1642

Summary

The Seven Works of Mercy are Christian charitable acts, which believers are expected to perform for people in need. They are to feed the hungry, provide drink for the thirsty, clothe the naked, ransom the imprisoned, visit the sick, provide a home for the homeless and bury the dead. Here, Francken shows all the acts, with the distribution of bread in the foreground. Francken was a Flemish artist who came from a large family of painters active in Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands. Although artists received many commissions to decorate churches, this small religious painting would probably have been sold on the open market. The son of the painter Frans Francken I, Francken II produced altarpieces and furniture panels, as well as smaller, allegorical paintings on religious, historical and mythological themes. Innumerable contemporary works from his studio survive, making precise attributions problematical. He is best known for his innovative pictures of Kunstkammern (private picture galleries), which influenced Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder, and allegorical ‘monkeys' kitchens', in which monkeys enact human vices, a genre adopted to great effect by Ferdinand van Keppel.

Display Label

Seven Works of Mercy about 1610 Frans Francken, the Younger 1581-1642 Oil on panel The Seven Works of Mercy are Christian charitable acts which believers are expected to perform for people in need. They are to feed the hungry, provide drink for the thirsty, clothe the naked, ransom the imprisoned, visit the sick, provide a home for the homeless, and bury the dead. Here, Francken shows all the acts, with the distribution of bread in the foreground. Francken was a Flemish artist who came from a large family of painters active in Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands. Here, in a Catholic country, artists received many commissions to decorate churches, but this is a small religious painting that would have been sold on the open market. Purchased 1912.51