Frans Francken the Younger

This portrait of the Antwerp artist, Frans Francken the Younger, together with the one beside it of Pieter Brueghel the Younger, is part of van Dyck's 'Iconography' – a series of engraved and etched likenesses of leading personalities. Van Dyck etched 19 portraits for the 'Iconography'; the remainder were engraved by professional printmakers based on drawings and 'grisaille' oil sketches by van Dyck. The set of 80 portraits was printed and published by Martin van den Enden. After van Dyck's death the plates were sold to another Antwerp publisher, Gillis Hendrickx, who reissued the set in 1645. The gallery's impression comes from this edition.