Belshazzar's Feast (Louvre version, MNR) - after Frans Francken II
Description
To the left, Belshazzar seated under a scarlet canopy presides over the feast. In the center, sacred tableware stolen from the Temple is piled in a pyramid on a pedestal. Beneath it, the queen, dressed in red like Belshazzar, is poured wine. On the right, in the foreground, valets tend to the wine and dishes. In the upper background, the inscription is barely visible. The figure seated on a stool between Belshazzar and the queen could be Daniel: his left hand is resting against his thigh, not on the table; he is not a guest; he has just been summoned by the king. The lavish representation of the banquet tends to overshadow the biblical significance of the image. And yet, despite the abundance of figures, the image has no depth, in the manner of medieval illuminations: almost all the heads are at the same height, to signify the equality of the guests at the feast. It is not perspective, then, that orders and regulates the image's layout. The image is to be read diagonally from left to right, as a progression from the ungodly king sitting in majesty to the divine inscription that emanates from the one true King.
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2. This painting is part of the MNR, "Musées Nationaux Récupération": these are works recovered in Germany at the end of the Second World War and which, having failed to find their rightful owners, were entrusted by the Office des biens privés to the custody of the Direction des musées de France by virtue of the decree of September 30, 1949. It is probably for this reason that it is not listed in the Mona Lisa database.
Acquired by the Linz Museum from Mandl, Paris, through Maria Dietrich, with the indication "March 1943 12,000 RM" [1] ;
Linz no. 2732 (marked "Hitler 2732" on the same card);
registered at Munich Central Collecting Point under no. 9612.
Attributed to the Musée du Louvre by the Office des Biens et Intérêts Privés in 1951.
3. A Belshazzar' Feast attributed to Frans Francken II is in Toulouse at the Musée des Augustins (a copy of this one), another from the workshop of Frans Francken II is in Poitiers (of different composition). Another, from the workshop of Frans Francken I, is in the Musée de la Chartreuse in Douais. A secretary decorated with miniatures on wood painted by Francken on the theme of the Life of Daniel is at the Musée Calvet in Avignon.
Technical Data
Notice #001081