Artwork
Ball
Ball is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Hieronymous Francken II. It dates from 1607 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The scene is rendered as a genre scene of merrymaking, emphasizing leisure and social interaction typical of early-seventeenth-century Flemish art.
The painting shows an outdoor gathering on a terrace overlooking a garden, where couples and groups are engaged in dance. The scene is rendered as a genre scene of merrymaking, emphasizing leisure and social interaction typical of early-seventeenth-century Flemish art. By portraying a festive party in an open, verdant setting, the work evokes themes of celebration, communal joy, and the fleeting pleasures of courtly leisure, inviting the viewer to contemplate the interplay of music, movement, and nature.
Technique & Style
Ball is an oil painting executed on panel, a support typical of early seventeenth-century Flemish practice. The work measures 61 cm in height by 87 cm in width, giving it a horizontal format suited to its subject of a dance and party on a garden terrace.
Stylistically, the painting belongs to the genre tradition associated with Hieronymus Francken II, depicting a lively social gathering. The oil medium on panel would have allowed for the detailed rendering of figures and the layered depiction of an outdoor entertainment scene characteristic of Francken II's output from this period.
History & Provenance
Created in Flanders, the painting titled Ball was executed by Hieronymus Francken II in 1607. The work is an oil-on-panel genre scene depicting a dance or party set on a terrace within a garden, measuring 61 by 87 cm. It is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum, where it is catalogued among the museum's Flemish holdings. No specific inventory or accession number, and no exhibition history, is documented in the available sources.
Overview
Hieronymus Francken the Younger, a member of the prolific Francken workshop in Antwerp, painted the oil work titled Ball in 1607. The canvas captures a lively gathering of elegantly dressed figures within an interior that opens onto a garden vista. Now housed in the State Hermitage Museum, the piece exemplifies the artist’s engagement with genre scenes that portray everyday festivity.
Artist & collection
Artist
Hieronymus Francken the Younger or Hieronymus II (Antwerp, 1578 – Antwerp, 1623) was a Flemish painter and one of the most prominent members of the large Francken family of artists.
