The Story of Esther

Frans is the most famous dynasty ofFrancken.
As early as 1605, he was master of the Antwerp guild, where he ran his own workshop of considerable production alongside his brother and later his son. He excelled in a wide variety of genres, ranging from large altar painting to small paintings for laypeople's cabinets depicting biblical, mythological and historical scenes.
The themes of the Old Testament were often dealt with by Francken II. This oil on copper illustrates the four main episodes of the Story of Esther, which regained popularity in the 17th century thanks to the tragedy of Racine.
The narrative process employed by the painter, which consists of a juxtaposition of episodes on the same painting, widely used by artists of his generation, precurses the comic strip.
based on the texts of Sandrine Le Bideau in the catalogue Flemish and Dutch paintings—Collection of the Châteauroux museums (Peintures Flamande et Hollandaise—Collection des Musées de Châteauroux) Somogy-Editions d’Art