canvas by Floris is the Mars and Venus ensnared by Vulcan in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (1547). Frans Floris is mainly known for his altarpieces, compositions with mythological and allegorical themes and to a lesser extent, for his portraits. He played an important role in introducing the genre of mythological and allegorical subject-matter into Flanders. He was one of the first Netherlandish artists to travel to Italy and study the latest developments in art as well as the Classical relics of Rome. The principal contemporary influences were Michelangelo from whom he borrowed the heroic treatment of the nude and Raphael whom he emulated by developing a ‘relief-like’ idiom. Floris did, however, not abandon the traditional Netherlandish technique of oil paint, which allowed him to fuse its detailed, descriptive properties with his radically new visual language, in which embellishments were reduced to a minimum and the nude played a prominent role. Floris’ early work of around 1545 shows most clearly the influence of his Italian sojourn. It shows similarities with the work of other Romanists such as Lambert Lombard and Pieter Coecke van Aelst. Later his style became increasingly monumental. His compositional skills improved in that he showed more skill in the arrangement of the figures. After 1560 his work became more Mannerist and the sculptural handling of the figures gave way to a more painterly approach. His palette evolved towards the monochrome. Later he may have been influenced by the school of Fontainebleau as his figures became more elegant and the works more refined. Just like his brother Cornelis was able to exert influence on contemporary architecture across the borders of Flanders through the medium of the Antwerp publishers, Floris’ work found wide circulation through engravings made by the leading Antwerp engravers. Hieronymus Cock, Philip Galle and Cornelis Cort were the principal engravers involved in this effort but others such as Johannes Wierix, Balthazar van den Bos, Pieter van der Heyden, Frans Huys, Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert and Jan Sadeler I also made engravings after the works of Frans Floris. Floris also made original designs for series of prints engraved in Antwerp. Portraits He was a very skilled portraitist but, possibly because of the lower ranking of portraiture in the hierarchy of pictorial genres, he painted only a few (possibly about 12) portraits. He is still regarded as an innovator of the genre as he introduced a new level of expressiveness and