1 / 4
Catalog
Premium Frans SNYDERS (Antwerp, 1579 - 1657)
Chinese porcelain bowl …
See original version (French)
Frans SNYDERS (Antwerp, 1579 - 1657)
Chinese porcelain bowl …
See original version (French)
Lot no. 45
Description
Frans SNYDERS (Antwerp, 1579 - 1657)
Chinese porcelain bowl with fruit and birds
Oil on oak panel, two boards
The MV mark of the panel-maker Michiel Vrient, active between 1605 and 1637, and the fire marks of two hands and Antwerp Castle on the reverse panel
Chinese porcelain cup with fruit and birds, oil on oak panel, by F. Snyders
17.32 x 25.39 in.
44 x 64.5 cm
Provenance: Anonymous sale; Rouen, Me Fournier, 16 December 1984 (sold for 400 000 Frs) ;
Galerie Gismondi, Paris, 1985 ;
Acquired from the latter by the current owner;
Private collection, Paris
Bibliography: Hella Robels, Frans Snyders. Stilleben- und Tiermaler (1579-1657), Munich, 1989, p. 263, no. 128
Peter Cherry, William B. Jordan, Spanish still life from Velazquez to Goya, New Haven, 1995, p. 48, ill.
William B. Jordan, Juan van der Hamen y Leon & The Court of Madrid, New Haven, London, 2006, p. 103, ill.
Abigail D. Newman, Painting Flanders Abroad. Flemish Art and Artists in Seventeenth-Century Madrid, Leiden, Boston, 2022, p. 124-125, fig. 70
This composition offers us the quintessence of Snyders' art in a perfect format that is both precious and intimate. The technique is exemplary, the generous and rich material mastered by the painter who exaggerates its brilliance thanks to a rich oil miction. In this panel, Snyders reveals himself to be both the great artist we know and, this time, a confidential painter, mastering space in a small format, light, movement, fruit and animals alike. The detail in the wings of the bird on the left is so wonderfully rendered that it gives us the impression that the bird is ready to escape from the frame of the painting.
The discourse is more complex and subtle than it seems, however: the appetising grapes in a precious Wan-Li china bowl allude to the perishable nature of earthly things, and the birds are at work to speed up the inexorable passage of time. They have entered through the window. From outside comes the threat... One of the four is still in full flight, determined to conquer its rightful place, as expressed by its determined eye, even if it means surprising its rival, proudly perched on a pear. A goldfinch feasts on a grape in the bottom right-hand corner, its red plumage in harmony with the tablecloth. This is an apparently simple composition, but the details, the treatment and the painter's style make it a true masterpiece.
Frans Snyders entered the studio of Pieter Brueghel II in 1593, at the age of 14. After becoming a master in 1602, he travelled to Italy, first to Rome and then to Milan, where he stayed for two years in 1608 and 1609. On his return to Antwerp, he specialised in still lifes and his reputation spread rapidly, to the extent that Rubens called on him between 1611 and 1616 to collaborate on some of his works. Having married Marguerite de Vos, sister of Cornelis and Paul de Vos, in 1611, he had a considerable influence on the latter's animal subjects. A member of the Society of Romanists in Antwerp in 1619, he became its dean in 1628. Snyders invented this type of interior scene in which animals play a predominant role. No doubt devoting many hours to observing the animals he portrayed, dead or alive, he used drawing to study the coats and plumage of a wide variety of species. A leading port from the 16th century onwards, Antwerp was one of the first cities to display live and naturalised exotic animals. Although the bird species represented here are indigenous, the porcelain bowl reflects the international trade and riches from the farthest reaches of the known world that arrived in Antwerp at the beginning of the 17th century.
Snyders established himself as one of the most important and recognised painters of his time, receiving numerous prestigious commissions from the great princes and dignitaries of the Habsburg empire, from Madrid to Brussels, from Vienna to Milan. It is important to understand the geopolitical data and market logic of this period in order to analyse the influences from which artists could benefit. Antwerp was a major centre for the export of paintings in Europe. The Spanish governance of the Southern Netherlands meant that Rubens, Paul de Vos and Snyders were in great demand by the Spanish grandees. The Castilian noble houses to be furnished were very different in size from those of the Antwerp bourgeoisie. These artists were commissioned to produce suites of dozens and dozens of very large paintings, and - thanks to their studio production methods - were able to respond to large commissions, both in terms of volume and financial value. Diego Mexia Felipez de Guzman, Marquis of Leganés (1582-1655) owned no fewer than 58 paintings by Snyders, most of which he probably acquired during the twenty years he spent in the service of Albert VII in the Spanish Netherlands. William B. Jordan1 explains Snyders' influence on bodegon painters, precisely by using our panel, which was copied by Juan van der Hamen y Leon2 (fig.1). Although we cannot prove it, it is very likely that our panel was part of a Spanish collection in 1621 and that it was copied there by Juan van der Hamen y Léon. Although the execution of the main motif may have been somewhat constrained, the Spaniard turned out to be a splendid landscape painter, surpassing the Flemish painter here.
1 - quoted above
2 - Juan van der Hamen y Leon, Composition with fruit and birds, 1621, oil on panel, signed, 54.5 x 69.3 cm, Spanish National Heritage (10014637).
Frans SNYDERS (Antwerp, 1579 - 1657)
44 x 64.5 cm
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits:
Contact organization
Delivery methods
You may also like