Garland of Flowers with Adoration of the Shepherds

c. 1625/1630

Frans Francken the Younger

Painter, Flemish, 1581 - 1642

Master HDB

Painter, Flemish

Frans Francken the Younger and Master HDB

Attributed to

A scene with seven men and women gathered around an infant is enclosed in an eight-sided, octagonal painted frame, which is surrounded by a wreath of flowers in this vertical painting. The painted black frame-within-a-frame resembles molding. The people in the scene have pale skin and wear robes in shades of teal blue, burnt orange, red, muted purple, or red. A woman reaching for the bed on which the child lies and the child have gold halos. Others crouch or bend toward the child, and one pair, to our left, turn toward each other, presumably talking. The nighttime-blue sky is streaked with nickel-gray clouds beyond a partially ruined stone arch. A lamb with all four feet tired together lies at the foot of the child’s bed. The wreath surrounding the painting-within-a-painting is dense with tulips, roses, daffodils, poppies, violets, and other flowers and greenery painted in shades of lemon and butter yellow, opal and pearl white, brick and coral red, and sky and slate blue against an inky-black background. One artist signed the painting-within-a-painting near the bottom left corner, “FF F.” The second artist who painted this signed his initials, “HDB”, on the bottom edge of the painted frame.

Media Options

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This small devotional image of The Adoration of the Shepherds, illusionistically framed in ebony, is surrounded by a lush garland of flowers. The Adoration is so delicately rendered that even at its diminutive scale the faces of the Holy Family and shepherds are clearly articulated with delicate brushwork. The elaborate garland includes a wide array of cut flowers, including tulips, roses, lilies-of-the- valley, narcisses, and irises rendered with extraordinary delicacy. The garland reinforces the devotional nature of the composition since the richness and beauty of flowers were celebrated as evidence of God's bounty in the natural world.

Painted on copper, this small image is the collaborative effort of the Flemish artist Frans Francken the Younger and an unknown floral specialist who monogrammed the painting "HBD" at the bottom right of the painted ebony frame. Francken's monogram, "FF F" (Frans Francken fecit), appears at the lower left of the religious image.

Francken and his studio collaborated with a number of different floral specialists over the years in their religious scenes with garlands. Such compositions were enormously popular in the 17th century, both for their religious sentiment and their exquisite beauty. Such assemblages of flowers were not possible in reality, as the blossoms occurred at different times of the year. Here arranged into one sumptuous display, they offer a visual feast to collectors and connoisseurs.


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on copper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Helen M.L. Marwick

  • Dimensions

    overall: 22.3 x 18.5 cm (8 3/4 x 7 5/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2003.140.1


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Stuttgart Museum.[1] (dealer, Lake District, England); purchased early 1930s by Helen B. [Mrs. Thomas] Lillie; by inheritance to her daughter, Helen M. Lillie Marwick [Mrs. Charles S. Marwick, 1915-2003], Washington, D.C.; bequest 2003 to NGA.
[1] Provenance information provided by Helen Lillie Marwick (letter of 7 July 1998, in NGA curatorial files). On the wooden panel that backs the painting is an oblong octagonal-shaped red wax seal. On the seal, a central crest with a crown is flanked on the left by a dog-like animal and on the right by a stag; a scroll at the bottom is largely illegible, except for the last letters "PIC." On the lower right reverse of the frame is a paper label, on which is written in blue pen "Stuttgart Museum Seal--." The "Stuttgart Museum," also mentioned in Mrs. Marwick's letter, has not been identified. Dr. Elsbeth Wieman, Curator for Early German and Netherlandish Painting at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart indicates that there is no record of this painting in their files (letter of 24 November 2003, in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Bibliography

2005

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 108-111, color repro.

2020

  • Libby, Alexandra. “From Personal Treasures to Public Gifts: The Flemish Painting Collection at the National Gallery of Art.” In America and the Art of Flanders: Collecting Paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and their Circles, edited by Esmée Quodbach. The Frick Collection Studies in the History of Art Collecting in America 5. University Park, 2020: 140.

Inscriptions

lower left of adoration scene in monogram: FF F; lower right of on painted frame in monogram: HDB[?]

Wikidata ID

Q20177042


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