Original works of art
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Frans Snyders |
(Belgian, 1579 -1657 ) |
Frans Snyders was one of the originators of Flemish still life and animal
painting, producing a large body of work, from which more than 500 paintings
survive, along with sketches and over 100 drawings. His work was a great influence
on Rubens and subsequently Landseer, and with Jan Fyt, was important for the
development of dog painting.
In 1593, Snyders was apprenticed to Pieter Brueghel II and came to specialize
in still life and animal painting. He became a master in the Antwerp painters
guild in 1602 and subsequently traveled throughout Europe, including to Rome
and Milan. By 1610 he was employed by Rubens and in 1611 he married Margaretha
de Vos, the sister of Cornelius and Paul de Vos.
By 1610, Snyders turned more and more to hunting scenes, often characterized
by a sense of drama, and he increasingly collaborated with Rubens. From 1636,
he provided some sixty hunting scenes and other subjects involving living animals
for the many commissions which Rubens was receiving from Philip IV of Spain
for his hunting lodge, the Torre de la Parada, and the Palacio Real in Madrid.
Scholarly opinion has come to think that many of the animal scenes for the Torre
de la Parada, were actually not done by Rubens, nor by Frans Snyders, but by
Paul de Vos. Snyders’ later hunting scenes, produced after 1640, are also
believed to have been substantially painted by Paul de Vos. This work is characterized
by a more successful integration of the animals with their backgrounds, due
to a more harmonious tonal range. Indeed, it appears that many of the animal
paintings for which Snyders was contracted for and paid for, were actually painted
by de Vos ( and signed by de Vos). |