72 - FRANS SNYDERS WORKSHOP, 17TH CENTURY

FRANS SNYDERS WORKSHOP, 17TH CENTURY Hunting Still Life with Hunter. c. 1610 Oil on panel Dimensions: 124 x 96.5 cm Provenance: - Parke Bernet, New York, December 5, 1946, lot 281, as Everard Crynsz van der Maes. - Sotheby's, New York, January 21, 1982, lot 29, as Abraham Janssens and Frans Snijders, from the collection of Lüchow's Restaurant, New York. - Private collection. A magnificent composition from early 17th-century Flemish painting, featuring a hunter displaying game before a lush array of animals and natural products: hare, birds, artichokes, and other vegetables. The richness of detail, the meticulous treatment of fur and feathers, and the pronounced tactile quality of the objects are characteristic of the pictorial universe developed by Frans Snyders, one of the great innovators of the Flemish still life. His early work from around 1610 precisely demonstrates the combination of game, birds, fruits, and vegetables found in this painting. The figure of the hunter also exhibits close stylistic links to the painting of Abraham Janssens (1567–1632), with whom Snyders collaborated on several occasions. The conception of the work finds particularly close parallels in other early compositions by Snyders, some of which were provided by Fred G. Meijer as comparative references. We thank specialist Fred G. Meijer for his help in cataloging this work.