Original works of art

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).