Frans Snyders Biography

baptized Nov. 11, 1579, Antwerp
died Aug. 19, 1657, Antwerp

  Snyders also spelled  Snijders, Sneyders, Snyers, or Sneis  Baroque artist who was the most noted 17th-century painter of hunting scene paintings and animals in combat. Snyders studied under Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and afterward under Hendrik van Balen. Snyders visited Italy in 1608. In 1611 he married Margaretha de Vos, the sister of the Flemish painters Cornelis and Paul de Vos.
  Snyders originally devoted himself to painting flowers, fruit, and still-life subjects, later turning to his lively paintings with animals. The compositions of these paintings of hunting and animals fighting are rich and varied. His drawing is accurate and vigorous, and his touch bold and thoroughly expressive of the different textures of furs and skins. Rubens frequently employed Snyders to paint animals, fruit, and still-life objects in his own oil paintings. Snyders was appointed principal painter to the archduke Albert, governor of the Low Countries, for whom he executed some of his finest paintings. One of these, a “Stag Hunt,” was presented to Philip III of Spain, who commissioned Snyders to paint several subjects of the chase.