(Antwerp 1579–1657)
A basket of fruit, asparagus, artichokes and a lobster on a blue and white porcelain dish,
oil on panel, 78.5 x 85.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, France, 2018;
art market, France;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution after inspection of the original. He dates the painting to circa 1630.

The basket with fruit and the lobster can be compared to other compositions by the artist in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (inv. no. sp 208) and in the Koninklijke Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels (inv. no. 4951); now on loan to the Snyders-Rockox Museum in Antwerp.

The present work is vivid, with a cornucopia of brilliant natural textures and stunning realism shows Snyders at the peak of his powers and is a fine example of the Antwerp Baroque sub-genre of Pronkstilleven. The rich crimson tones of the lobster on the left, then, as now a delicacy, set out on a valuable porcelain plate, with imported artichokes to the right, and lemons and peaches heaped bountifully above, exude an flair of distinct luxury. The asparagus and the shimmering flesh of the grapes compliment the sense of plenty, which is ironic as by the 1630s, the once great port of Antwerp had lost its access to the sea, a result of the blockading of the river Scheldt by the hostile Dutch Republic. These extravagant still lifes then were displayed both as way of enjoying all God’s creation and beauty, in the bold response of the Counter-Reformation to puritan self-denial, but also can be seen in the context of a declining Antwerp still propagandising its supposed prosperity through its art.

Frans Snyders trained with Pieter Brueghel II and Hendrick van Balen. He became a specialist in still life and animal painting and became a master of the Antwerp painters’ guild in 1602. After spending a year in Italy, where he is documented between 1608 and 1609, he returned to Antwerp where he developed his own innovative style in depicting still life and animal subjects. Influenced by Italian painting and by the work of Rubens, with whom he collaborated on several works, such as The Recognition of Phililpoemen in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Snyders’s skill in the handling of many different objects, and the sheer variety of his compositions, with his mastery of colour, made his work much-prized by important patrons throughout Europe.