AMBROSIUS FRANCKEN II (bottega di)

(Antwerp, c. 1590 - 1632) The Crucifixion on Mount Calvary Oil on panel, 93X123 cm Provenance: Amsterdam, Christie's, June 12, 1990, lot 308 (as circle of Frans Francken I) Vienna, Dorotheum, Dec. 16, 2021, lot 37 (as the workshop of Ambrosius Francken II) Born in Antwerp, Ambrosius trained with his father Frans Francken the Elder, becoming his collaborator and from whom he inherited the workshop. We know that the artist in 1624 was registered as a master in the Guild of St. Luke, a fact that attests to the fact that he had autonomy of trade. According to custom, his production marks the continuity of his father's creative solutions, and the celebrity of the workshop required several collaborators necessary to fulfill the numerous commissions. In our case, the stage setting is derived from a prototype by Frans Francken the Elder, likely handed down from drawings and works to which Ambrosius applied variations and adaptations depending on the client's requests and importance. Returning to the work under consideration, its preciousness is attested by the use of a table of relevant measurements.