Ambrosius Francken I (1544–1618)

• Was a Flemish painter.
• Ambrosius Francken I was born in Herentals.
• His father was the painter Nicolaes Francken from Herentals.
• His brothers Frans Francken I and Hieronymus Francken I both became successful painters.
• Ambrosius studied under his father and the leading Antwerp Mannerist painter Frans Floris.
• The early biographer Karel van Mander reports in the Schilder-boeck that Francken spent time in Tournai where he lived at the Bishop's residence.
• Van Mander met him in Tournai while he himself was residing there as a young pupil at his master Pieter Vlerick's house.
• In 1570 Francken spent some time in Fontainebleau.
• Around 1573 Ambrosius Francken I was back in Antwerp where he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke as a master.

• Ambrosius lived in a very turbulent time due to the conflict between Calvinists and Catholics in the Low Countries.

• In 1589 he together with Maerten de Vos was appointed by the Ghent magistrate to value the painting of the Last Judgment by Raphael Coxie.

• Ambrosius Francken and Marten de Vos were also chosen as the chief designers of the decorations for the 1594 Joyous Entry into Antwerp of the newly appointed governor of the Southern Netherlands, Archduke Ernest of Austria.

• He married Clara Pickarts and later became the teacher of Hieronymus Francken II, the son of his brother Frans Francken I.

• He died in Antwerp.

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