France Snyders. Still life pioneer

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France Snyders. Still life pioneer
France Snyders. Still life pioneer

Video: France Snyders. Still life pioneer

Video: France Snyders. Still life pioneer
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Frans Snyders was creating when the sensual Baroque style flourished in Europe. This style did not appear by chance. Firstly, Europe actively abandoned the asceticism imposed by the Middle Ages, and secondly, scientific ideas about the world as a space of being have changed. The spirit of freedom burst into painting.

Biography

Frans Snyders was born in 1579 in Antwerp. His parents kept a tavern, which was famous for its delicious food and good wine among artists. Almost no information has been preserved about childhood and early years. We know that he had five brothers and sisters. One of the brothers, Michel, was also an artist. But his work did not become popular. It is known that he was in 1592-1593. Studied painting under Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Then he joined the guild of St. Luke, which united all artists, as the Academy of Arts does today. Frans Snyders lived and studied in Italy for seven years. At first he lived in Rome. Then, on the recommendation of Jan Brueghel the Elder, he turned to the famous collector, Cardinal Borromeo, in Milan. Brueghel asked permission to makecopy of a painting by Titian. Therefore, it can be assumed that Frans Snyders was already a very experienced artist before he turned his attention to still lifes.

Returning to his homeland, enriched with knowledge, he married the sister of the artist Cornelis de Vos Margareta in the spring of 1609.

Since 1610, active cooperation with Rubens begins. A frequent customer and patron of Snyders was the Bishop of Ghent. Snyders' work was in demand. With his earnings, he was able to buy a house in Antwerp. And the authority among artists was such that in 1628 he became dean of the Guild of St. Luke. He had many students. After the death of Peter Paul Rubens, Snyders was honored with the opportunity to act as one of the assessors of the great artist's legacy. In 1647 the painter was widowed. He didn't have children. Snyders himself died in 1657 and bequeathed his fortune to his sister. This is all that is rather scarcely known about an artist like Frans Snyders. Biography does not have full sources.

Still lifes of the artist

Initially, the artist is not without influence, as they say, Caravaggio drew attention to the image of flowers, vegetables and fruits. His compositions are extremely diverse, and the colors are simply beautiful.

france snyders
france snyders

Still life with a monkey, a parrot and a dog, which are next to the table, which is simply bursting with an abundance of fruits and vegetables, berries, meat and sea delicacies. The red color is not dominant, but in contrast to the white drapery and the dog, the composition is very decorative. Brown tablecloth, carelesslyfalling from the table, perfectly harmonizes with the gold of lemons, with their whimsically wriggling peel and the color of violins. The composition is very complex, but fits into the traditional triangle created by animals.

Still life with fruits, vegetables, monkey, squirrel and cat

Animals are hosting on a table covered with a scarlet tablecloth.

Frans Snyders still lifes
Frans Snyders still lifes

A squirrel is working in a basket filled with grapes, peaches, plums. The monkey, which has put its paw into the basket, looks around and hisses at the creeping cat. And he aimed at a lying hare and pheasants, which are carelessly thrown next to the leek and artichokes. Snyders was the first artist to use only living animals as the subjects of his still lifes.

In the kitchen

Frans Snyders rarely includes a person in still lifes.

frans snyders description of paintings
frans snyders description of paintings

But here the artist depicted a kitchen table littered with raw game, and a cook with a large knife, who is about to start butchering it. The game is shown as hunting trophies, which may not be for cooking, but only for stuffing pies. There is a cunning cat nearby, who has already grabbed the bird and is trying to pull it away.

Wild boar hunting

Again, the primacy in the image of the hunt belongs to Snyders.

frans snyders biography
frans snyders biography

This is a very vivid scene of a lively hunt and a fierce battle between dogs and a boar defeated by them. His animalistic work greatly influenced his contemporaries and subsequentgenerations of artists.

An innovator in the field of still life and animalism was the painter Frans Snyders. The description of the paintings goes on and on.

In the XV-XVI century, baroque art developed in different directions. In the Netherlands, Frans Snyders became its brightest representative.

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