Frans Francken the Younger (1581, Antwerp – 6 May 1642, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter and the best-known and most prolific member of the large Francken family of artists.[1] He painted large altarpieces for churches as well as smaller historical, mythological and allegorical scenes. His depictions of collectors' cabinets established a popular new genre of art in the era.

Francken often collaborated with other artists, adding figures and narrative elements to scenes created by specialists in landscape, architectural and floral still life paintings.

Later in his life Francken also painted large altarpieces. In these works he remained immune to the influence of Rubens, whose work exercised such a strong appeal on Flemish artists of that time. His religious works are more indebted to the work of his father. The Adoration of the Magi is a classic example of this style.

Among his religiously themed works of particular note are the unusual and stylistically 'reactionary' paintings of biblical scenes, which are framed on all sides by smaller scenes in grisaille.

This type of painting had been introduced by the Antwerp artist Gillis Mostaert in the 16th century. The grisaille frame echoes the Renaissance ecclesiastical portal. Each grisaille scene has its own naturalistic perspective and as a result the compositions provide an odd mixture of three-dimensional naturalism and archaic flatness.

Francken used this archaizing technique into the 1620s.

This style was possibly invented in the 16th century by the Flemish painter Gillis Mostaert and some works of Mostaert in this style have been erroneously attributed to Frans Francken.

Church Interior, with Pieter Neeffs the Elder
An example of one of these works is The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The panel shows various scenes from the Parable of the Prodigal Son from the Christian bible. The parable recounts the story of a father with two sons. The younger son asks for his inheritance and after wasting his fortune (the word "prodigal" means "wastefully extravagant"), becomes destitute and has to live in squalor. He returns home with the intention of begging his father to make him one of his hired servants. His father welcomes him back and celebrates his return but the older son refuses to participate. In the centre of the composition Francken depicts the scene of the prodigal son during his wild, high-living days in which he squandered his inheritance. Surrounding this central scene are depicted other scenes of the story in smaller scale and in grisaille