Master Francke

Master Francke O.P. (or Meister Francke, Frater Francke, respectively German for "Master Francke" and Latin for "Brother Francke") was a North German Gothic painter and Dominican friar, born ca. 1380 in the Lower Rhine region or possibly Zutphen in the Netherlands, who died ca. 1440, probably in Hamburg, where he was based at the end of his known career. He is called "Fratre Francone Zutphanico" ("Brother Frank of Zutphen") in one document. He may have trained as an illuminator and painter in France or the Netherlands, and later worked in Münster, before joining in St John's Priory in Hamburg by 1424 at the latest.Hutchison

Works

Two main altarpieces attributed to him survive, dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury and Saint Barbara, in an unusually intense style, showing awareness of French and Early Netherlandish court art. He probably arrived in Hamburg after the death in 1415 of the previous leading artist there, Master Bertram, and shows little or no influence from him, but he may have been influenced by the more courtly style of Conrad von Soest, about ten years older than Francke, who worked to the south in Westphalia.

The Hamburg association of traders to England commissioned an altarpiece from "Mester Francke n in 1424; the contract does not survive, but is mentioned in their memorial book. This is probably the "St Thomas (of Canterbury) Altarpiece", completed in 1436, of which parts survive in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg. The rather earlier St Barbara Altarpiece may have been commissioned for Finland, where it surfaced a century ago. The "Thomas Altar" has eight surviving scenes, but is missing its main panel and several others. The " Barbara Altar" has also eight scenes, on both sides of the wings to a carved wood central panel by another artist. At least two other panels are in museum collections. Francke was almost entirely forgotten after the Renaissance until the end of the 19th century when, like Master Bertram, he was rediscovered and published by Alfred Lichtwart, Director of the Hamburg Kunsthalle.

Gallery

Image:Meister Francke - Geißelung der hl. Barbara.jpg, ''Martyrdom of St Barbara'' from the Saint Barbara Altarpiece, now in Helsinki, (before 1424)
Image:Meister Francke 012.jpg, ''Resurrection of Jesus'' (ca. 1424)

File:1426 Meister Francke Die Anbetung des Kindes anagoria.JPG, Adoration of the Child, 1426, Kunsthalle Hamburg
File:Meister Francke - Adoration of the Magi - WGA14322.jpg, Adoration of the Magi, 1426, Kunsthalle Hamburg
File:1426 Meister Francke Die Verhöhnung des hl. Thomas von Canterbury anagoria.JPG, The Mocking of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, 1426, Kunsthalle Hamburg
File:Meister Francke 011.jpg, The Martyrdom of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, 1426, Kunsthalle Hamburg
File:1430 Meister Francke Die Grablegung anagoria.JPG, Entombment of Christ, 1430, Kunsthalle Hamburg
File:1430 Meister Francke Christi Auferstehung anagoria.JPG, Resurrection of Christ, 1430, Kunsthalle Hamburg
Image:Meister Francke 004.jpg, '' Schmerzensmann'' (ca. 1430), Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
File:1435 Meister Francke Die klagenden Frauen am Kreuz anagoria.JPG, The Women at the Cross (fragment), 1435, Kunsthalle Hamburg

See also

* List of German painters

Notes

References

*
*
''Key Figures in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia''
By Richard Kenneth Emmerson, Sandra Clayton-Emmerson, CRC Press, 2006, ,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Master Francke
1380s births
1430s deaths
15th-century German painters
German male painters
Gothic painters
Dutch painters
Dutch male painters
Painters from Hamburg
People from Zutphen
Dutch Dominicans
15th-century German artists
Catholic painters