Still Life with a Deer and 2 Dogs

Frans Snyders (1579–1657) was a Flemish Baroque painter born in Antwerp, one of the most important artistic centers of the time. He trained under Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Hendrick Van Balen, and later traveled to Italy. Back in Antwerp, Snyders became especially famous for his large, dramatic still lifes, market scenes, and paintings of animals, often filled with movement and rich detail. He was a pioneer in elevating still life and animal painting to an independent and prestigious genre. Snyders frequently collaborated with leading artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, contributing animals, food, and objects to their works. He spent most of his career in Antwerp, where he achieved great success and recognition.

This striking composition by Frans Snyders exemplifies the grandeur and drama of Flemish Baroque still life. At the heart of the scene lies a freshly hunted deer, suspended upside down over a white-draped table, its lifeless body rendered with visceral realism. Surrounding it, an opulent array of food—lobster, berries, bread, and vegetables—evokes both abundance and mortality.
Beneath the table, two dogs engage in a moment of tension and curiosity, their expressive gazes and poised bodies adding narrative depth to the tableau. Snyders, a master of animal painting and a close collaborator of Rubens, was renowned for his ability to animate still life with theatrical energy and lifelike detail.
The composition is rich in texture and symbolism: the bounty of nature, the spoils of the hunt, and the ever-present reminder of transience. The interplay of light and shadow, fur and fabric, flesh and feast, creates a visual symphony that is both sumptuous and sobering.

Various motifs can be found in other works from that period, including a famous painting by Snyders in Munich (Kitchen Still Life with a servant, Alte Pinakothek, cat/inv. 198) which is of the same quality of execution. 

We are Grateful to Prof. Fred Meijer for identifying our work as a painting by Frans Snyders (eventually in colaboration with his studio). He dates the work around 1610-1615.

Oil on Canvas, 121 x 108 cm 
On the reverse, a label indicating a sale in Paris in 1870