Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2008)

TERÉZ GERSZI: Frans Floris' Early Drawings in Budapest

FRANS FLORIS' EARLY DRAWINGS IN BUDAPEST TERÉZ GERSZI Allegories with themes from antiquity were introduced into Netherlandish art by Frans Floris (1519/20-1570). His name is also linked to the first depiction of Apollo and the Muses

1 in the Netherlands, which was a rare theme there in the sixteenth century. He revisited this theme on several occasions. The earliest work is a composition known from a 1555 engraving (fig. I)

2 by Jan van Stalburch (doc. 1555-1562). It was presumably made in 1549 since it might be loosely connected to one of the paintings of the triumphal arch erected for the procession into Antwerp of Charles V and Philip II (then still an infant) which has since been destroyed.

3 As attested to by historical sources, this work by Floris brought him great popularity and earned him a large number of commissions. An engraving executed by Frans Huys in 1565 is known, which has also been linked by scholars with the now lost painting made for the ceremonial procession of the ruler into Antwerp.

4 Although some similarities can be found in the composition of the two prints (especially in the grouping of muses in threes), there are major differences in the representation of the figures, indicating the important changes that Floris' art underwent in the span of more than a decade. A third can be added to these two compositional variants, namely a sheet in the collection of drawings in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (fig. 2) which is listed with its companion piece in the 1971 catalogue as the work of an artist in Frans Floris' circle', but now regarded as an early work by Floris.

6 The Budapest pen-and-ink drawing entitled Apollo and the Muses shows affinity with Stalburch's aforementioned engraving in regard to the strongly built but scraggy-armed figures, and with some of the movements and the decorative emphasis of the overall impression. Both works depict peculiar-looking women with pointed chins and hollow eyes, whose diverse arrangements of hair and headdresses together with the archaising shrouds of inventive designs