Lot 9: FRANS FRANCKEN, THE YOUNGER (1581-1642)

DANIEL FEEDING THE BABYLONIAN DRAGON oil on panel 9 3/4 x 13 1/4 in. (24.3 x 33.7 cm.) PROVENANCE Anon. sale, Sotheby's, New York, Nov. 25, 1981, lot 9, as Frans Francken the Younger and Bartholomeus van Bassen LITERATURE U. Harting, Frans Francken II, 1989, p. 303, no. 256 Dr. Harting, loc. cit., included the present painting in her catalogue raisonne having only known it from a photograph. For this reason she expressed some reservation as to the attribution on stylistic grounds and because of the uniqueness of the subject matter to Francken and his atelier. Having now seen a transparency of the painting she fully endorses the attribution to Francken in a letter dated November 13, 1991. She will again publish the work in her forthcoming article for the Revue du Louvre, Daniel, Bel et le dragon de Babylon - - Un cabinet a peintures par Frans Francken II. (1581-1642) au musee Calvet d'Avignon. In this article Dr. Harting discusses a painted cabinet in the Musee Calvet, Avignon, where the story of Daniel decorates the drawers and doors. The subject of "Daniel feeding the Babylonian dragon" appears on the right wing of the cabinet. In the present painting Francken repeated and developed the composition of the Avignon painting, although in reverse. He also extended the composition in order to enlarge the door of the palace seen beyond. Dr. Harting believes that the present painting was executed somewhat later than the Avignon version. The subject, which was rarely represented by artists in Flanders in the 17th century, is taken from the Apocryphal Book of Daniel. The architecture is by another hand reminiscent of Bartholomeus van Bassen (1590-1652).