Peter Snijers

The actual painting is deeper in tone and shows more contrast than the catalogue illustration suggests. The canvas has an old effective relining. A repaired and retouched fold or tear is visible in the upper part below the shaped top, and there's a small restored damage in the lower left corner. The paint surface is under a very dirty and yellowed varnish. Stretcher marks are slightly visible to the front in the centre. The paint surface is in good condition. A few tiny scattered retouchings can be made out in the sky and the buildings on the left. Inspection under UV light reveals scattered infilled craquelure, e.g. in the centre around the figures, and some very minor old retouchings in the figures on the right and very minor ones in the lady in the centre and in the background figures. Offered in a plain gilt wood frame with a few losses and a minor damage along the upper edge.
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This is an unusually large and grand market scene by Peter Snijers, and its size and irregular shape suggest that it was very probably a specific private commission. The sympathetic and detailed portrayals of the merchant and his family certainly have the strong feel of a portrait, but if so their identities are now lost to us. Snijers made similar use of such groups in perhaps his finest works, the series of the Months of the Year painted in 1727 and which remained in his own collection. Two of these, those depicting the months of April and May are now kept in Brussels, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts (inv. nos. 6810-11) and January and July are now in Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten (inv. nos. 5103-04). Another two, those for March and December, were sold, New York, Christie's, 29 January 1998, lot 3. The six paintings are all on canvas, but are of smaller format than the present picture, measuring 84 by 68 cm. It has been suggested that the figure on the extreme right of the composition may represent a self-portrait of the artist.