Franciscus Gijsbrechts

Franciscus Gijsbrechts (1649, Antwerp – after 1677), was a Flemish painter of still lifes specialised in vanitas still lifes and trompe-l'œil paintings. He worked in the second half of the seventeenth century in the Spanish Netherlands, Denmark and the Dutch Republic. Like his father, he painted trompe-l'œil still lifes, a still life genre that uses illusionistic means to create the appearance that the painted, two-dimensional composition is actually a three-dimensional, real object.

Life
He was the son of Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts and Anna Moons. He was baptised on 25 February 1649 in the parish of St James in Antwerp. His father was a still-life painter and probably also his teacher.

It is possible that in 1672 he was an assistant to his father at the Danish court in Copenhagen. These connections to the court are likely as a work dated 1672 was already in the Danish collection before 1689. He was possibly identical with the Franciscus Gijsbrecht who was registered in 1674 in Leiden's Guild of St Luke. In 1676 he is recorded in Antwerp when he joined that city's Guild of St Luke as a wijnmeester, i.e. as a relative of a member. This entry in the guild books is the last mention of Gysbrechts.

Work
Gijsbrechts was a painter of still lifes. It is possible that he also painted landscapes, as landscapes by a Gijsbrecht were mentioned in art inventories in the 18th century. However, no landscapes by his hand are known at present. It may be that the landscapes were painted by a namesake of Gysbrechts.

The majority of his works consist of vanitas still lifes and trompe-l'œils similar in style and subject matter to those of his father. The similarity between their works has made it difficult to distinguish between the works of the two artists and some attributions are disputed. It is generally believed that his father's style is more baroque and his brushwork softer and more fluid.

Trompe-l'oeil
Gijsbrechts followed his father who, as a painter, specialised in the trompe-l'oeils that were extremely popular in the 17th century and brought it to perfection in this genre. One of the more elaborate compositions in Franciscus' oeuvre is the painting Trompe l'oeil still life of a half-open wall cabinet filled with writing implements, silver gilt dishes, a violin and a hunting horn (c. 1675, Bonhams London 4 December 2019 lot 24). It represents the epitome of the collector's cabinet and a personal interpretation of the cabinet of curiosities. While in his painted cabinets his father had kept the design of the half-opened cabinet rather simple, in this work Franciscus took it a step further and made it more complex.

Vanitas
Many of Gijsbrecht's well-known still lifes fall into the category of vanitas paintings. This genre of still life offers a reflection on the apparent meaninglessness of earthly life and the transience of all earthly goods and pursuits. This meaning is conveyed in these still lifes through the use of stock symbols that refer to the transience of things and, in particular, the futility of earthly wealth and achievements: a skull, soap bubbles, candles, empty glasses, wilting flowers, insects, smoke, clocks, mirrors, books, hourglasses and musical instruments, various expensive or exclusive objects such as jewellery and rare shells. The worldview behind the vanitas paintings was a Christian understanding of the world as a temporary place of fleeting joys and sorrows from which humanity could only escape through the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ. The term vanitas is derived from the famous line Vanitas vanitatum et omnia Vanitas, from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, which is translated in the King James Version as Vanity of vanities, all is vain. While most of the symbols used in vanitas paintings refer to earthly existence (books, scientific instruments, etc.) and pleasures (pipes and other smoking utensils) or the transience of life and death (skulls, soap bubbles, empty shells), some of the symbols carry a double meaning: a rose or an oar of grain refers as much to the brevity of life as it is a symbol of the resurrection of Christ and thus eternal life.

In Trompe-l'œil of a vanitas still life with a clock, smoking and painters materials (Sotheby's 30 November 2010 Amsterdam, lot 37), Gijsbrechts presents a virtual inventory of seventeenth-century symbols of transience: the skull, smoking utensils, painters materials, an extinguished candle, a clock and an oar of grain, all painted in a highly illusionistic manner. In this way, the artist fused his proven trompe l'oeil technique with the vanitas subject.