Although the Louvre owns no picture by Frans Floris, the head of the
Italianising mid-sixteenth-century Antwerp school, his uninteresting
style may be studied in _The Story of Esther_ (No. 1989) by his pupil
Frans Franck (1542-1616). To that second-rate artist’s son, Frans
Franck the Younger (1581-1642), who already benefited to a certain
extent by the example of Rubens, is given in the official Catalogue
_Ulysses recognising Achilles among the Daughters of Lycomedes_ (No.
1991A). _The Parable of the Prodigal Son_ (No. 1990), which is also
catalogued under his name, is obviously by his son Frans Franck III.,
since the date 1663 precedes the signature, and F. Franck the younger
died in 1642.
Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622) was born at Antwerp, but spent
the later part of his life in Paris, where, like his father, he enjoyed
considerable reputation as a portrait painter. He had previously been
working at the Mantuan Court, and became painter to Marie de Médicis
after 1609. Although he occasionally produced altarpieces like the
rather uninspired _Last Supper_ (No. 2068) and _St. Francis receiving
the Stigmata_ (No. 2069), he was essentially a portrait painter. In
this capacity he belongs rather to the age that was coming to a close
than to the new era initiated by Rubens. His portraits are quite
soundly painted, rich in colour, and convincing as likenesses, but lack
depth of character and suavity of touch. By far his best pictures at
the Louvre are the _Portrait of Henri IV._ (No. 2071) and the large
_Portrait of Marie de Médicis_ (No. 2072), in which the details of
the costume are particularly noteworthy. Less important is another
_Portrait of Henri IV._ (No. 2070), and one of _Guillaume du Vair_ (No.
2074).
Octavius van Veen, or Otto Venius (1558-1629), the painter of _The
Artist and his Family_ (No. 2191), owes his fame more to the fact that
he was one of the three masters under whom Rubens studied than to any
intrinsic merit of his art.