Ceres and Pan

1609–1657 · Virkested

Antwerp

1610–1640

A close collaboration with Rubens

From the 1610s Snyders works with Rubens, who admires his ability to render the textures of fur and skin and often has him paint animals, fruit and still life in his own pictures; the collaboration is particularly close between 1610 and 1640. At first Rubens himself sketches the whole composition in oils and marks the place for Snyders’s contribution (“The Recognition of Philopoemen”, regarded as the first Baroque still life with figures), while in “Prometheus Bound” it is the reverse: Snyders makes the sketch, leaving space for Rubens’s figure. Contemporaries had difficulty telling their hands apart in joint works, and after Rubens’s death Snyders was one of the appraisers of the inventory of his collection.

after 1614

The dark backgrounds of his early still lifes disappear

After 1614 the dark surroundings of his early still lifes disappear, and Snyders becomes a fine colourist with a strong sense of composition, able to structure a profusion of disparate objects.