Floris, Frans (1516–1570)

Flemish painter. He visited Italy, where he was strongly influenced by the works of Michelangelo. Among his finest works are The Last Judgement (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels) and The Fall of Rebellious Angels (1554, Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp).

Floris was born in Antwerp. He began as a sculptor under his father, and later went to Liège, where he studied painting under Lambert Lombard. He travelled to Rome with his brother, the architect and sculptor Cornelis Floris, whose chief work was the town hall in Antwerp. Frans's large and successful family workshop in Antwerp later helped to popularize the contemporary Italian artistic style in the Netherlands.