Portretten van Willem Key, Frans Floris en Pieter Aertsen

Frans Floris was a 16th-century Dutch painter and engraver. Was the son of a sculptor. Initially worked with his brother, the architect Cornelis de Vrind. Between 1536 and 1538 he studied under Lambert Lombard. In 1541 he came to Rome, where for seven years he studied the works of Roman Mannerists Jacopo Pontormo and Giorgio Vasari and copied Michelangelo's "Last Judgment". With interest in the work of modern Dutch artists, in particular to the works of Artgen van Leyden. Soviet art historian NN Nikulin, analyzing the work of Floris, noted that he spent several years in Italy, was under the strong influence of Michelangelo and Tintoretto. Floris, based on the achievements of the Italian masters, after returning to his homeland tried to develop his original monumental style, but the task was beyond him. Floris painted large-scale paintings, filling them with powerful mythological and biblical characters; Nikulin notes: "Religious and allegorical themes are treated by him in the spirit of Italian mannerism. They are conventional, eclectic, far from reality." And in these attempts, albeit not always successful, Floris was a kind of predecessor of Rubens.