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Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 80: 

Technical notes: The painting’s support is an oak
panel (±0.3–0.7 cm thick) constructed of three horizontal,
butt-joined, radial boards with horizontal grain. Dendrochronological
examination and analysis has determined
a felling date for the tree between c. 1600 and 1616. The
wood originates from the region of Western Germany/
the Netherlands. Under the assumption of a median of 17
sapwood rings and a minimum of 2 years for seasoning of
the wood, the most plausible date for use of the panel
would be 1612 or later. The painting underwent conservation
treatment in 1835, 1889, 1935 and 1975.

Provenance: A gift by Louis de Cardevaque, Marquis
d’Havrincourt, French Ambassador, presented in 1649 to
Carl Gustaf Tessin; offered as a Christmas gift by Carl
Gustaf Tessin to Adolf Fredrik in 1750 (as “L’Enlevement
d’Helene målat af Jules Romain”); Adolf Fredrik,
Ulriksdal 1771, no. 268; purchased 1771 by Gustav III
from his father’s estate; Gustav III 1792, no. 187; KM
1795, no. 223 (as Hendrick van Balen I).

Exhibited: Stockholm 2010, no. 63.

Bibliography: NM Cat. 1867, p. 29 (as Frans Francken
II); Sander I, p. 135; and II, p. 119; Göthe 1887, p. 87
(as circle of Frans Francken II); Göthe 1893, p. 107;
Göthe 1910, p. 121; NM Cat. 1958, p. 75 (as workshop
of Frans Francken II); Härting 1983, no. B247 (as
Hieronymus Francken III); NM Cat. 1990, p. 136, (as
workshop of Frans Francken II).

In classical mythology Helen of Troy, the beautiful
daughter of Zeus and Leda, who was married to
Meneleus, king of Sparta, was loved by Paris, the son
of King Priam of Troy. At Paris’ birth it was prophesied
that he would eventually bring about the destruction
of Troy. Later, accepting Aphrodite’s bribe of the
most beautiful woman in the world, he forcibly carried
Helen off by sea to Troy, whereupon the Greeks
mounted an expedition to recover her. Thus the Trojan
prince brought about the onset of war, fulfilling
the prophecy made at his birth. The setting depicted
here is a rocky seashore, where the Trojan fleet lies at
anchor. Paris is seen carrying the protesting Helen to a
rowboat that will take them out to the waiting ship,
while, in the background, his companions battle the
Greeks. On a height is the temple of Artemis, where
Helen and her companions made their offerings just
prior to the abduction.

Cabinet-sized pictures such as this work with expressively
rendered historical, biblical, or mythological stories
and allegorical subjects, were a specialty of the
large and extremely productive Francken workshop at
Antwerp. Some of the finest examples of these complex
multi-figure compositions were produced during the
1620s by Frans Francken II as head of the studio. This
painting is a later variant of a signed painting by Frans
II of 1625 in Tours (Musée des Beaux-Arts),1 inspired
by a reproductive engraving attributed to a follower of
Italian printmaker Marcantonio Raimondi after a
design by Raphael or Giulio Romano that found widespread
use in the Netherlands.2 Like the print, and
contrary to the Homeric tradition, both paintings represent
the figure of Helen in an attitude of active resistance,
being physically torn from her protectors. The
coastal landscape with the round temple building on a
height in the background, and several of the principal
figures, including Helen, two of Paris’ companions and
the oarsman in the rowboat, are derived from the
Tours painting. However, the figure of Paris in the
Stockholm picture, who grabs Helen around the waist
with his muscular left arm, varies the pose of same figure
in an early painting (c. 1600) of the subject by
Frans II formerly at Solingen (K. Müllenmeister,
1989).3 The Solingen picture is based on a composition
– possibly a lost design of c. 1533/1535 by Francesco
Primaticcio for the Chambre du Roi at Fontainebleau
– known through partial drawn copies by Niccolò dell’Abbate4
and Peter Paul Rubens.5 Studies of individual
figures and groups were probably kept on hand in the
studio and used repeatedly over a period of time,
though none has survived. Several members of the
Francken family are known to have made extended visits,
sometimes of several years, to France and to
Fontainebleau. The artist who painted this work must
also have had direct knowledge of the Marcantonio
school print – the jagged profile of the foreground
rocks on the right resembles that in the engraving
more closely than it does the Tours painting. In addition,
some of the Trojan soldiers on charging steeds
and fallen Greek warriors in the background battle
scenes of the Tours and Stockholm paintings were
apparently copied after a second print source, the
engraving Battle with a Shield on a Lance by Giovanni
Jacopo Caraglio, again after a design by Raphael or
Giulio Romano.6 The powerful muscled figure of a
Greek soldier with his back turned to the viewer in the
centre foreground of the present picture, a figure that
differs substantially from those in other versions of the
subject by the Francken studio and their sources, seems
modelled after a figure in another famous battle scene,
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge (c.1520/1524), a fresco
in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican Palace, Rome,
executed by Giulio Romano and assistants after a
design by Raphael.7

Härting (1983) attributed the painting on a stylistic
basis to the second of Frans II Francken’s three sons,
Hieronymus III, who, though a weaker painter,
worked in his father’s style producing variants of his
compositions after c. 1625/1630.8 She pointed to the
characteristic figure types with softly rounded backs
and the use of strong primary colours as typical of this
artist.9 As also noted by Härting, however, it is still not
possible to distinguish between all members of the
Francken family reliably, partly because the same
Christian names occurred in three generations who
used identical signatures.
CF
1 Oil on wood, 87 x 120 cm, signed and dated “1625”, Tours, Musée des
Beaux-Arts, inv. no. 351/874-5-16; see Härting 1983, pp. 141–142, no.
A247, fig. 88; and idem 1989, pp. 32, 58, 335 no. 332, fig. 33.
2 Circle of Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael or Giulio Romano, The
Abduction of Helen, engr., 296 x 424 mm; see The Illustrated Bartsch, vol.
27, no. 209, fig. 170. For Francken, see Härting 1983, p. 141 and n. 329.
3 Oil on copper, 47 x 65.5 cm, signed, Solingen, K. Müllenmeister; see
Härting 1989, pp. 32, 36, 38, 58, 129, 335 no. 333, illus. (“c.1600”).
4 Niccolò dell’Abbate, The Rape of Helen, pen and brown ink and wash,
white heightening, 477 x 414, Chatsworth, Collections of the Duke of
Devonshire, inv. no. 131; see Bologna 1969, pp. 111–113 no. 53, illus. (S.
Béguin). The original design partially copied in this drawing was reproduced
as an illustrations in Charles de Bourgeville’s Histoire universelle de
la guerre des Grecs et des Troyens (Caen 1572), for which see Mc Allister
Johnson 1965, pp. 299, 300 n. 16.
5 Peter Paul Rubens, The Abduction of Helen, pen and brown ink, grey wash,
green and grey bodycolour, white heightening, 275 x 410 mm, Paris,
Musée du Louvre, Département des arts graphiques, Cabinet des dessins,
inv. no. 20268; see Lugt 1949, II, p. 28 no. 1078, pl.XLVIII; and Paris
1972, p. 195 no. 218.
6 Jacopo Caraglio, The Battle with a Shield on a Lance, engr., 334 x 491 mm;
see The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 28, p. 194 no. 59, illus.; and Geneva
1984, p. 48 no. 57, illus.
7 For Giulio Romano, see Hurst 1958, I, pp. 42–51, figs. 58, 61. The same
figure was copied by Maerten van Heemskerck in drawing of a battle
scene (ca.1573) in London, The British Museum, Coll. Sloane, inv. no.
5236-161; for which see Amsterdam 1986, pp. 327–328 no. 207, illus.
8 On Hieronymus Francken III, see Härting 1983, pp. 107–110; and idem
1989, pp. 187–188. The records of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke contain
no information about the artist. Although his father, Frans Francken II,
employed his sons, sons-in-law and other assistants in his workshop practice,
he registered only one apprentice and must have been absolved from
registering them.
9 Other characteristics of the style of Hieronymus III noted by Härting, such
as the black contour lines of the figures, are noticeably absent from no. 80
(NM 432). The technique of the Stockholm painting – which is quite thinly
painted overall and has translucent glazes in some of the draperies (see
Technical Notes) – also does not agree with Härting’s description of this
artist’s works. He seems to have favoured strong, even clashing, primary
colours applied with heavy impasto and minimal use of the glazing technique
typically employed by Frans II. See Härting 1983, pp. 107–110.[End]

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2009

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