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.
1628
Becomes dean of the Guild of St Luke
In 1628 Snyders becomes dean of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke, which he had joined as a master in 1602.
1629
Jan Fyt joins as pupil, later assistant
From 1629 Jan Fyt studies with Snyders and then serves as his assistant. The master’s pupils are believed also to include Nicasius Bernaerts, Peter van Boucle (no written confirmation of his apprenticeship in Antwerp exists), Juriaen Jacobsze, Jan Roos and Paul de Vos.
1641–1642
A trip to the Dutch Republic
In 1641 and 1642 Snyders travels with other artists to the Dutch Republic.