Frans Snyders

Amberes (Bélgica), 1579 - 1657.

This famous Flemish painter was surrounded by artists from childhood. At his parents’ inn he met Pieter Brueghel the Younger, whose studio he entered as a disciple in 1592, and in 1611, he entered Cornelis de Vos’s family by marrying his sister Margaretha.

After qualifying as a master painter in 1602, he left for Italy (Rome and Milan), where he stayed until 1609. It was there that he cultivated his style by observing the Mannerism of Michelangelo in the Vatican City and working in Milan at the service of Cardinal Bishop Borromeo on the recommendation of Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Upon returning to Flanders he met Rubens, with whom he began to work as an assistant. Snyders painting flowers, fruit and animals in the paintings of the Baroque master, and in return the diplomat helped his work by creating human figures. At the home and workplace of the most famous painter of the time he met other illustrious contemporaries such as Jacob Jordaens and Anton van Dyck.

Snyders occupies a significant place in this era both because of his relationships and because of his artistic talent, which enabled him to obtain a wide audience for his work. He was able to convey the dynamism and expressive force of the Baroque movement in his rich and varied compositions in still lifes and violent hunting scenes, depictions of animals fighting, themes that were hitherto unknown and in which he is considered a pioneer.

Consequently, given the iconographic hunting tradition of the UEE Collection, the calendar paid homage to this author in 1987 with the reproduction of one of his most famous paintings at the Prado Museum.

This work was a commission to the painter by King Philip IV via Arch-Duke Alberto, governor of Belgium (to which Flanders belonged), which was then part of the Spanish Empire, and of which Snyders was designated the chief painter.

1987 Frans Snyders Wild boar hunt Oils on canvas 100 x 150 cm.