Frans Badens

Frans Badens (Antwerp, 1571 – Amsterdam, before 17 November 1618) was a Flemish-born painter who was active in Amsterdam where he was known for his mythological and biblical scenes, genre scenes, portraits and still lifes.

Life Frans Badens was born in Antwerp in 1571 as the son of an obscure artist. His brother was Jan Badens. The family left Antwerp and moved to Amsterdam shortly after 18 November 1576. It is not clear with whom he trained. It is believed that he studied in Italy between 1591 and 1597 where he had travelled with Jacob Matham.

His pupils included Gerbrand Bredero, Adriaen van Nieulandt and Jeremias van Winghe.

The contemporary reputation of Badens is evidenced by the inclusion of an engraved portrait of the artist in Hendrick Hondius' Pictorum aliquot celebrium praecipue Germaniae inferioris Effigies (Effigies of some celebrated painters, chiefly of Lower Germany), which was a collection of 69 portraits of prominent, chiefly Netherlandish artists published in 1610. The accompanying Latin verse underneath the portrait begins with the line "addit picturae meliús nemo colores", which translates as "no one was better at adding colours to a painting."

The artist is believed to have died in Amsterdam before 17 November 1618. Van Mander reported that Badens painted in the Italian style.

To Badens has been attributed a Civic Guardsmen from a company of the Crossbow Civic Guard (1603 - 1618, Amsterdam Museum). The painting falls in the genre of the schutterstukken and represents one of the schutterijen (civic guards) of Amsterdam. In this composition Badens created a sense of space by providing a through view. A striking figure is the drummer in the centre. Occupying a low rank, he would likely not have had enough money to pay for his portrait. Probably the drummer and the many lances and hats in the background were included to create the impression that the whole guard was present in the painting.