Snyders, Frans

Snyders is one of the 17th-century Flemish painters of highest repute, both for his still lifes and for his hunting scenes, and was very well known and appreciated, particularly in Spain. Considering that one of the major specialities of the Flemish schools is animal paintings, its artists were truly geniuses at inventing the most varied hunting scenes and compositions in which beasts played a predominant role. In addition they often display a considerable mastery of light, colour, composition and landscape settings, and it is therefore not apt to speak of exclusive devotion to one particular field but of a command of several and ability to blend them harmoniously to enhance the effect of the artwork.
Such was the background of this artist who, when still a disciple of Pieter Brueghel II, followed the footsteps of Jan Brueghel de Velours and travelled around Italy, arriving in Rome in 1608. That same year he went to Milan, where Cardinal Federico Borromeo took him under his wing. He returned to Antwerp in 1609 and around 1610 began to collaborate with Rubens, which influenced the dynamic Baroque panache of his compositions. In 1611 he married Margaretha de Vos, the sister of the painters Cornelis and Paul de Vos. He painted many works for the Torre de la Parada hunting lodge, particularly scenes of the chase, commissioned by Philip IV, which explains the important collection owned by the Prado.
Snyders worked intensely for 50 years, producing a huge number of paintings of which around 300 survive, as well as sketches and drawings. He cooperated with various artists of his day, reaching full maturity between 1619 and 1640, a period in which he held posts in the Guild of Antwerp and became considerably rich. His style attained a new interpretative freedom around 1630; his colours became more splendorous, he endowed his settings with superb atmospheric effects and his brushstrokes grew softer and more flowing. Snyders was also a major collector and on his death owned works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Van Balen, the Brueghels, Van Cleve, Jordaens, Heda, Van Leyden, Patinir, Van Utrecht, Lievens and many other 16th- and 17th-century artists (Luna, J. J.: From Titian to Goya. Great Masters of the Museo del Prado, National Art Museum of China-Shanghai Museum, 2007, pp. 394-395).