Ancient painting of a healing scene from the 1600s, oil on copper.

Oil on copper. Flemish school of the 17th century. The painting, traditionally attributed to Frans Francken the Younger (1581 -1642), depicts a miraculous healing performed by Jesus: as he walks with his disciples, he encounters a sick man on his path, likely suffering from leprosy, a disease that involved isolation and banishment from the city; the man calls upon Christ, who performs the miracle and heals him. The painting places the event on the left edge of the scene, in the foreground, where the figures dressed in the typical style of Christ's time stand out with their bright colours; furthermore, the landscape that fills the rest of the scene is distinctly northern, with a plentiful river running through a lush countryside, and a city in the background beneath mountain peaks. The pictorial description of the vegetation is meticulous and precise, rich and well-defined in detail: the broken trunk in the foreground, the foliage of the large tree behind the figures, the birds flying high in the sky, the small flowers on the bank, the nuances of the water in which plants and clouds are reflected are painted with a pictorial refinement typical of Flemish painting, close in style to that of the great Antwerp artist. The painting is presented in a repurposed antique frame.