Jacob Franquart or Jacob Franckaert the Younger (1582/83 – buried 6 January 1651) was a Flemish architect, painter, print artist, draftsman, military engineer and poet.Jacques Franckaert (II) at the Netherlands Institute for Art History He is known for his altarpieces and publications on contemporary Italian architecture. He was employed by the court of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella in Brussels as a painter and architect. He was responsible for the design of ephemeral decorations and structure for important occasions at the court such as funerals. As an architect and decorator, he introduced the Baroque in the buildings of the Habsburg Netherlands.Brigitte de Patoul, Jacques Francart II in: Dictionnaire des peintres belges His style is sometimes referred to as the Italo-Flemish style and became very popular in Flanders in the 17th century.J.-P. Esther, Francart (Franckaert; Francquart), Jacques (Jacob) (born ?Antwerp, ?1583; d Brussels, buried Jan 6, 1651) at Oxford Art Online Only a few paintings are attributed to him.Auguste Schoy, Histoire de l'influence italienne sur l'architecture dans les Pays-Bas, 1879, Brussels, F. Hayez, pp 245-262
Life Franquart was born in Antwerp or possibly Brussels as the son of Jacob Franckaert the Elder and Michaela del Tronco.Annemie de Vos, Jacques Francart, Premier livre d'architecture (1617): studie van een Zuid-Nederlands modelboek met poortgebouwen, KAWLSK, 1998 His date of birth is not known with certainty. He was likely born in 1582 or 1583. His father was a painter and draughtsman known for his religious subjects, landscapes and architectural scenes, who became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1571. A sister of Jacob the Younger named Suzanna was born around 1584. Jacob the Elder is still mentioned in Antwerp in 1585. His father took his family via Paris to Italy in 1591. In Naples, Jacob the Elder started a collaboration with Wenceslas Cobergher, a Flemish painter who had trained in Antwerp with Maerten de Vos. They executed several paintings for the city's churches.
Jacob the Elder moved with his family to Rome in 1594. Cobergher joined them and the two artists continued their collaboration. Four months after the death of his first wife, Cobergher married Suzanna Franckaert, the daughter of his collaborator, in Rome on 20 November 1599. At the time the Franquart family was registered in the register of the parish of San Lorenzo in Rome. In March 1601, the family was registered in the marriage register of the parish of San Lorenzo in Rome. It is difficult to discern in these works the contribution of either artist. Jacob started to study painting, likely with his father. In Rome, he had the opportunity to study the Antique and Renaissance architecture. He particularly admired the works of Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Carlo Maderno.
Both parents of Jacob had died by September 1601 after which he lived with his sister Susanna and her husband Cobergher. At this time the Archdukes Albert and Isabella invited Cobergher to work for them at the court in Brussels causing him to leave Italy with his family. Jacob remained in Rome. At some point he got involved in a lawsuit regarding some stolen precious stones. The stones were rediscovered before the end of the trial. In the years 1607 and 1608, he was residing near the Santa Maria della Pace in Rome. Franquart returned to his homeland at the end of the trial and before the summer of 1611.
Some authors have stated that Franquart worked in the workshop of Rubens in Antwerp and that they were old friends. There is no documentary evidence for this. It is possible that the two artists got to know each other during their residence in Italy. Rubens' later purchase of Franquart's Premier Livre d'Architecture... (First book of Architecture) published in 1616 was possibly a sign of his respect for Franquart. Rubens may also have acquired the book purely for practical reasons as at that time he was carrying out renovations on his newly purchased home in Antwerp.
One month after the publication of Franquart's Premier Livre d'Architecture (Premier livre d'architecture de Iaques Francart : contenant diuerses inuentions de portes seruiables à tous ceux qui désirent bastir et pour sculpteurs, tailleurs de pieres, escriniers, massons et autres : en trois langues, in English First book of architecture of Jaques Francart : containing various inventions of doors useful to all those which wish to build and for sculptors, stone cutters, manufacturers of cases, masons and others: in three languages), he was asked to complete the Jesuit Church in Brussels (destroyed in 1812). Construction of the church had started in 1606 with Hendrik Hoeimaker as the building master. Franquart's involvement in this project launched his career as an architect. In 1620, he was put in charge of the construction of the Temple of the Augustinians in Brussels. In June 1621, he designed the funeral procession of the Archduke Albert. In 1629, he was commissioned to design the Beguinage Church in Mechelen. Franquart also rebuilt the Church of Our Lady by the Dijle in Mechelen, by adding a choir chapel and two side chapels as a continuation of the 16th-century choir. After Cobergher's death in 1632, Franquart was appointed engineer to the Spanish king. Franquart taught his niece Anna Francisca de Bruyns to paint.Anna Francisca de Bruyns at the Netherlands Institute for Art History The leading Brussels sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger was appointed as his assistant.Matthias Depoorter, Jerôme Duquesnoy II at Baroque in the Southern Netherlands
He never married and died in Brussels where he was buried on 6 January 1651.
Work General Franquart was a prolific artist who worked as an architect, painter, print designer, draftsman, military engineer and poet. His most important contributions are his publication on contemporary Italian architecture and introduction of the Baroque style in architecture in the Habsburg Netherlands.. He was employed by the court of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella in Brussels as a painter and architect. He was responsible for the design of ephemeral decorations and structure for important occasions at the court such as funerals. As an architect and decorator, he introduced early Baroque into the buildings of the Habsburg Netherlands. Only a few paintings are attributed to him. He was further active as a civil and military engineer.
Publications Franquart's Premier Livre d’Architecture was published in 1617 and dedicated to Archduke Albert. Four volumes were planned but only one was ever published. This treatise features an introduction and 18 designs for doors for civil architecture. The designs are illustrated in scale drawings, elevations and in profile with the additions of a few measurements. Three illustrations show additional details. The engravings were made by Michel Lasne. The text was in three languages: Latin, French and Dutch. The book reflects the tradition of Hans Vredeman de Vries' pattern books. It also reflects the influence of van Sebastiano Serlio's Extraordinario Libro. The door designs are all based on designs by Michelangelo and later Mannerist architects. Two types of models are provided in the book: for refined doors and for rustic doors. The importance of door design at that time is that doors were typically the only modern element added to civil buildings whose design remained otherwise traditional.Krista De Jonge and Annemie De Vos, Francart, Jacques, Michel Lasne (engraver), "Premier livre d’architecture"... The book introduces the principle of Baroque decorative opulence as well as certain recurring themes, such as the cartouche, the horn of opulence, the sheell three superimposed pods.Ralph Dekoninck et Caroline Heering, Le permanent et l’éphémère. Ornements d’architecture et arts du spectacle, in: Th. CORTEMBOS and M.-C. CLAES (dir.), De Saint-Ignace à Saint-Loup. Quatre siècles d’un joyau baroque à Namur, Namur, Société archéologique de Namur (coll. Namur. Histoire et patrimoine), 2021 Like Coberghers unpublished treatise, Franquart's book made a significant contribution to the knowledge of the Italian tradition in the Southern Netherlands.Vlieghe, Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585-1700, 261–262
In 1622, he published in Brussels the Cent tablettes et escussons d'armes or Hondert schryftafelkens ende wapeschilden (One hundred plaques and escutcheons of arms). The book had 27 pages and plates. It was a model book providing examples of portals and gate designs were included to be realised and adapted. The subtitle of the book was pour sculpteurs, peintres et orfebvres, pour s'en servir aux ornemens d'inscriptions, emblemes et armes (for sculptors, painters and goldsmiths, to be used for inscriptions, emblems and coats of arms), showing that the intention of the book was to serve as guidelines for painters, sculptors and goldsmiths.
Architectural designs
One month after the publication of his Premier Livre d'Architecture, he was asked to complete the Jesuit Church in Brussels (destroyed in 1812). The church's construction had been started in 1606 with Hendrik Hoeimaker as the building master. His first building design was of great importance both for his own career and for its influence on his contemporaries. His Jesuit Church played a key role in the evolution of the Flemish early Baroque even more so than the contemporary St. Charles Borromeo Church in Antwerp, which was designed by Franciscus Aguilonius and Peter Huyssens. His Baroque church shows the influence of his Roman models. The primary Roman models include the Church of St. Susanna by Carlo Maderno, the designs of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola for the Jesuit Church which were not executed and the facade of the Jesuit Church which were built by Giacomo della Porta in 1577. Franquart's sole original contribution to these models is the addition of an attic (a story above the cornice of the facade), which adds an extra dimension to the facade, while not entirely breaking with the horizantality of Renaissance architecture.Rutger Tijs, Renaissance- en barokarchitectuur in België: Vitruvius' erfenis en de ontwikkeling van de bouwkunst in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden van renaissance tot barok, Lannoo Uitgeverij, 1999, pp. 144-146 Franquart's Jesuit Church also incorporated local traditions as the facade hid a Flemish Late Gothic building (in part inherited from Hoeimaker's original design) characterised by its verticalism and interior rib-vaulting. Tuscan columns carried the rib-vaults, decorated in the centre by escutcheons, a treatment of the nave that was echoed by many, including Huyssens at St. Walburga Church in Bruges.