Frans Francken II (Antwerp 1607-1667)

This painting, which Dr. Ursula Härting has dated to circa 1615 on the basis of its careful craftsmanship and colorful appearance (loc. cit.), bears the panel maker's mark of Lambrecht Steens on the reverse. It is the finest known version of a composition that survives in at least three further examples. Francken may have derived the composition in which Christ stretches across the picture plane, his lifeless body supported by Joseph of Arimathaea, from an engraving by Enea Vico or, perhaps likelier, a painting of circa 1597 variously given to Sir Peter Paul Rubens and his master Otto van Veen (Musée du Louvre, Paris). Particularly noteworthy is Francken's use of metallic gold that has been ground into a powder and combined with oil for the four halos, Nicodemus's collar and Joseph of Arimathaea's turban and cloak.