Натюрморт с лебедем

1609–1657 · Luogo di lavoro

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.

1641–1642

A trip to the Dutch Republic

In 1641 and 1642 Snyders travels with other artists to the Dutch Republic.

1646 · Luogo di lavoro

Breda

1647

Snyders becomes a widower

In 1647 Snyders becomes a widower; he outlives his wife by ten years.