This painting relates to a drawing in the Ashmolean Museum which is based on an original design by Snyders of female and male market sellers side-by-side, with their produce (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Circle of Frans Snyders, A game and fruit seller’s stall, 28 x 40.7 cm. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford /

It is more likely that the left and right sides of this composition are based on two separate, pendant paintings by Snyders which were merged to form a singular composition for the purpose of the drawing. The original canvas by Snyders of the male merchant survives intact and sold at Christie's, London, 22 January 2009, lot 560 (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Frans Snyders, The game dealer, 121.9 x 116.3 cm.

The original painting of the female merchant apparently only survives in a canvas fragment of the lower section of the composition (fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Frans Snyders, fragment, image from Beeldende Kunst 12, no. 66 (1924-25)

We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer, who suggests that the present panel is a probable studio version following the lost Snyders original.