Jacob Franckaert (I)

Jacob Franckaert or Jacob Franquart (the Elder) (1550–51 – 6 September 1601 (buried)) was a Flemish painter and draftsman. After training in Antwerp, he worked in Brussels and later moved to Italy where he worked in Naples and Rome. He is known for his religious subjects, landscapes and architectural scenes.

Life

Franckaert was born in Antwerp in 1550 or 1551. It is not known with whom he studied. He became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1571. He married Michaela del Tronco.

Jacob died on 6 September 1601 in Rome. His widow died not long after. Their son Jacob the went to live with his sister Susanna and her husband Cobergher.

On 23 February 1601 Franckaert together with three other Flemish painters working in Rome entered into a contract with the Spanish noble Don Pietro di Toledo, fifth marquis of Villafranca for the execution of ninety paintings of hermits at the price of 15 escudos per piece and 400 paintings of Roman emperors and other prominent figures of Antiquity. The other Flemish painters were Paul Bril, a leading landscape painter, the rather obscure landscape artist Willem van Nieulandt the Elder and Franckaert's son-in-law and collaborator Cobergher. Thirty of the paintings of hermits are now in the collection of the Monastery of the Anunciada in Villafranca del Bierzo. These works were partially based on prints after designs by the Flemish artist Maerten de Vos. The contribution of each of the artists in the paintings cannot be determined with certainty.