Painting

In these years Franciscus focused a lot on painted portraits. These portraits were strongly influenced by Flemish painter Hans Memling (Selighenstad 1430 – Bruges 1494). The surreal atmosphere of his famous portraits against meticulous landscapes intrigued him. It inspired him to make a series. In his autonomous portraits both existing people and fantasy figures are depicted. He often uses archetypes as a starting point. The depicted persons are not only portrayed, but sometimes change in contemporary variations of the historical figures depicted by Memling. By working with photography and with digital settings, the painted portraits get invigorated. There are recurring paintings in which the same figures in a sequence are repeated with a continuous background.