Frans Pourbus the Younger

Frans Pourbus the Younger or Frans Pourbus (II) (Antwerp, 1569 – Paris, 1622) was a Flemish painter, specialised in portrait painting. He was the third generation of a prominent family of religious and portrait painters.

Pourbus was a successful court painter for, successively, the Archdukes in Brussels, the Gonzaga Duke of Mantua (1600–1609), and then the French court. The majority of his work was royal portraits, many full-length, but he also painted some altarpieces. He painted the Brussels-based Spanish Regents of the Netherlands, the Duke of Mantua and Marie de' Medici, Queen of France.

Pourbus produced portraits that were pleasing to his patrons, but somewhat static with no dramatic situations, or landscape backgrounds. His father was an important portrait and genre painter and his grandfather Pieter Pourbus (1523 – 1584) was the leading portrait and history painter in Bruges in the second half of the 16th century.

At the end of the 16th century, he worked for Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella in Brussels. Within months of his appointment, Peter Paul Rubens arrived at the Mantuan court, but there is no evidence of hostility between the two. In 1609, Pourbus moved to Paris at the instigation of Marie de' Medici, Queen of France. It was here that he perfected his style. He worked as Marie de' Medici, Queen of France's court painter until his death.

Death He died in Paris and was buried on 19 February 1622.The exact date of his death is unknown.

Selected works