Belgian 1579-1657 Frans Snyders Gallery Frans Snyders (1579 - 1657), or Snijders, was a Flemish painter of animals and still life. Snyders was born and died at Antwerp. He is recorded as a student of Pieter Brueghel the Younger in 1593, and subsequently received instruction from Hendrick van Balen, the first master of Van Dyck. He was a friend of Van Dyck who painted Snyders and his wife more than once (Frick Collection, Kassel etc). He became a master of the Antwerp painters guild in 1602. He visited Italy in 1608-9, visiting Rome, and working for Cardinal Borromeo in Milan. In 1611 he married Margaretha, the sister of Cornelis de Vos and Paul de Vos (another animal painter), in Antwerp. Jan Fyt was a student, and then assistant of his from 1629. Snyders initially devoted himself to painting flowers, fruit and subjects of still life, but later turned to painting animals, and executed with the greatest skill and spirit hunting pieces and combats of wild animals. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers. Snyders and his wife, by Van Dyck, KasselHis composition is rich and varied, his drawing correct and vigorous, his touch bold and thoroughly expressive of the different textures of furs and skins. His excellence in this department excited the admiration of Rubens, who frequently employed him to paint animals, fruit and still life in his own pictures, and he assisted Jacob Jordaens, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert and other artists in a similar manner. In the lion and boar hunts which bear the name of Snyders the hand of Rubens sometimes appears. He was one of the executors of Rubens's will. He was appointed principal painter to the Archduke Albert of Austria, governor of the Low Countries, for whom he executed some of his finest works. One of these, a Stag-Hunt was presented to Philip III of Spain, who together with his successor Philip IV of Spain, commissioned the artist to paint several subjects of the chase, which are still preserved in Spain. He also worked for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, when he became Governor.  Related Paintings of Frans Snyders :. | Fish Stall | Style life with fruits in a niche | Squirrel and Cat | detail Fruit and Vegetable Stall (mk14) | Philomenes Recognized by the Old Woman |
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Karel Dujardin
1621-1678 Dutch Karel Dujardin Locations Dujardin was born in Amsterdam in 1640. After training with Nicolaes Berchem, he went to Italy when young, and became a member of the Society of Painters at Rome, among whom, he was known as Barba di Becco. In Rome, his works met with general approbation. According to some sources, on his way back to his native country, he contracted considerable debts at Lyon, to free himself from which, he married his old and rich landlady. He went with her to Amsterdam, where his pictures were valued very highly. He soon secretly left his home in that city, probably from dislike of his wife, and went back to Rome in 1675, where he was welcomed by his old friends and admirers, and lived at great expense. After a vist to Tangier he went to Venice, where he died in 1678. Most of his paintings are cabinet paintings of Italianate landscapes and or with farm animals and peasants. His landscapes have spirit and harmony, his figures expression, and his colour the brilliancy which distinguishes his school. His paintings are rare and command a high price. He also published fifty-two etchings of simiar subjects, with great spirit and ease. He painted a single, fine, portrait (probably a self-portrait), and a pair of Baroque religious paintings on the life of St Paul, probably commissioned, as they lie well outside his normal style. One of these, and the portrait, are in the National Gallery, London
Aert van der Neer
1603-1677 Dutch Although generally known by the name of Aert, he usually signed himself Aernout. According to Houbraken, van der Neer spent his youth in Arkel near Gorinchem (Gorkum), a town on the river Waal, east of Dordrecht, where he worked as a majoor (steward) for the lords of Arkel. He became an amateur painter, possibly as a result of his contact with the Camphuyzen brothers Rafael Govertsz. (1597/8-1657) and Jochem Govertsz. (1601/2-59). Aert married Lysbeth Govertsdr (Liedtke) who was almost certainly Rafael and Jochem sister. Rafael acted as witness at the baptism of their daughter Cornelia in 1642. Around 1632 van der Neer and his wife moved to Amsterdam where, in about 1634, their eldest son, Eglon, was born.
Abraham Bloemaert
(1566, Gorinchem - 27 January 1651, Utrecht), was a Dutch painter and printmaker in etching and engraving. He was one of the "Haarlem Mannerists" from about 1585, but in the new century altered his style to fit new Baroque trends. Bloemaert was the son of an architect, who moved his family to Utrecht in 1575, where Abraham was first a pupil of Gerrit Splinter (pupil of Frans Floris) and of Joos de Beer. He then spent three years in Paris, studying under several masters, and on his return to his native country received further training from Hieronymus Francken. In 1591 he went to Amsterdam, and four years later settled finally at Utrecht, where he became dean of the Guild of St. Luke. He excelled more as a colourist than as a draughtsman, was extremely productive, and painted and etched historical and allegorical pictures, landscapes, still-life, animal pictures and flower pieces. In the first decade of the seventeenth-century, Bloemaert began formulating his landscape paintings to include pictoresque ruined cottagges and other pastoral elements. In these works, the religious or mythological figures play a subordinate role. Country life was to remain Bloemaert's favourite subject, which he depicted with increasing naturalism. He drew motifs such as peasant cottages, dovecotes and trees from life and then on his return to the studio, worked them up into complex imaginary scenes. Among his pupils are his four sons, Hendrick, Frederick, Cornelis, and Adriaan (all of whom achieved considerable reputation as painters or engravers), the two Honthorsts, Ferdinand Bol and Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp.