Frans Floris

One of a prominent Netherlandish family of sculptors and architects active in Antwerp, Frans Floris de Vriendt transformed Netherlandish art. After his exposure in Italy to the Mannerism of Michelangelo and the High Renaissance in the early 1540s Floris returned to Antwerp where he skilfully created a hybrid of Northern and Italian traditions in his workshop practices and pictorial projects. Dubbed the ‘Flemish Raphael’, Floris trained over one hundred assistants and rejuvenated the taste for mythological and religious painting in Antwerp and beyond, with bold new themes and compositional approaches.