Not a few too many years after the vague period known as the end of the Rennaisance there arose a painter from the Lowlands called Franz Franken II.

I can’t say that his work ever pulled me in like the earlier Dutch artists Bruegel (the Elder) or Bosch (the Heronymous) ever did, but upon seeing one of Franken’s (#2, the Younger) paintings with my own eyes, meaning seeing the actual painting hanging on the wall of a museum in the south of France in the small city Perigueux, I was stricken.

This painting was one of many, many, many that he did that were allegorical, and one of many of the those that actually did include the word allegory in its title. This one was called Allegorie de l’occasion, or the Allegory of Opportunity.

As all allegorical works go, including all Franken the Younger’s, this was a work carrying a deeper, hidden meaning of most likely political, moral or ethical considerations, though I know little of such things. However, this is a painting that goes beyond my desire to understand its implications of the time and the claiming of a throne that may or may not be seated, etc., and so its visual content (its figures) and composition had me hooked. Really, upon reviewing his other “allegories,” there is really nothing much different there for my own immediate purposes, so I suppose it is that seeing any one of them could have done me in the same way and it could have been any one of them that I would tribute, but it was this one, Franken’s “Opportunity,” that got me.

Placed a bit high over a door had it a bit far away and hard to view, and the possibility that it may have benefited from a bit of cleaning or restorative work (of course maybe its just that later Northern palette, particularly the browns – Caravagio influenced, maybe?), that confounded my eyes, it was hard for me to really enjoy to its fullest extent. Not to be critical of the museum’s handling of the painting (I’m happy they even have it), I could ask that this one with all of its patented Franken, classical detail that it be at least hung at eye-level with proper lighting, The Allegory of Opportunity really is a prize for such a small, public museum, or any museum, really, so standing in front of this one and craning my neck towards the ceiling still had me respond to it with the thought, “I’ve got to paint this one!!!”

And so I did.

Of course I had to do it my way, and I had to contemporize its subjects (I am, after all, a contemporary artist), but you’ll easily see the composition is more than vaguely there, as well as particular copying of given elements – this for my own purposes, of course. The centerpiece figure, just as example, had to remain (with its gender changed), but the way I see it is this – if that sort of figure was so important that it was used in maybe a dozen or more of Franken’s Allegory paintings (it is perhaps that this figure is indeed his allegory), that it would have to remain in my image as tribute to his most definite mark. Others stand as needed…

While this one of mine isn’t titled as an allegory, it is such, though knowing nothing of the subtleties of the times that Franken lived, I make any allegory my own. In any case, this is a tribute to Franz Franken the Younger, and to his abilities as an artist. I can only wish I was such a talent when it comes to the craft of painting and fine art. I’m humbled by his skills.

Below I give you a video of my tribute to the great Franz Franken the Younger which I have titled Six-Cubed – Where the Fool Becomes Magi. I hope you enjoy it. As always, I welcome likes and comments from you, and will always appreciate your shares to your favorite social channels and stations. Just click on the icons below for any outlet that you’re plugged into and blast away. I love you all – stay happy and always give a smile!