Frans Snyders

Probably Sir James Ibbetson Bt. (c. 1747-1795) of Denton Park, Yorkshire;
Sir Charles Henry Ibbetson Bt. (1814-1861) of Denton Park, Yorkshire;
Anonymous sale, ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 14 July 1911, lot 105, when bought back by the family;
Thence by direct family descent.

T. Moule and J.P. Neale, Jones' Views of the Seats, Mansions, Castles Etc. of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, 1829, p. 22: 'List of the principal Pictures at Denton Park', Dead Game and Dogs, in a Larder, very large - Snyders.

The following condition report is provided by Rebecca Gregg, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. The painting’s canvas support has a seam running 6 inches from the upper edge across the entire painting. This is patched along the reverse of the canvas and is slightly raised in appearance. However there are no significant planar deformations and the overall tension is adequate. There is a small patch on the reverse at the site of a repair. There is significant cusping along the lower edge of the seam which would imply that this upper section of canvas is a later addition. The canvas texture across the two sections is also quite different. The paint layers are in relatively good condition, there are no obviously recent damages or loss and the overall adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support appears sound. There is a distinct craqulure across the majority of the original canvas; however this does appear stable at present. There are at least two campaigns of restoration present, possibly more, there appear to be relatively large areas of thinness which have been glazed with a series of retouching lines and there is also another over-paint campaign which has reintegrated areas of abrasion in a painterly fashion. The over-paint could be described as excessive, the appearance of the brushstrokes implies that it also covers original paint; although it is difficult to assess at present as the over-paint layers cover much of the surface in the background. The majority of the over-paint present in the lighter areas of the composition which have been preferentially cleaned appears to cover distinct losses. The small 8.5cm long tear located approximately 56cm from the upper edge and 67cm from the right has been over-painted and is slightly raised as is the seam. There are multiple layers of discoloured varnish layer present. This has been selectively cleaned from the lighter areas of the composition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

By the early 1640s when this grandiose still life was painted, Frans Snyders was at the height of his powers and his wealth and reputation securely established. By this date his style had achieved a new freedom, his looser and more confident brushwork matched by an increasingly rich and colourful palette. As Susan Koslow has observed, at this date Snyders extended the space in his large larder still lifes by extending the floor towards the viewer or, as here, by placing the elements on several levels, in this case provided by the Antwerp oak cupboard upon which the boar's head sits in its dish. Other compositional devices were also introduced at this period, for example that of the pheasant with its tail pointing diagonally upwards, a feature absent from works before this date. Another example of this can be found, for example, in the signed canvas of the 1640s today in the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden, where the motif of the deer also appears¹. The deer and the boar's head were by this date common motifs in Snyders's large game pieces, and had been in use since the 1620s in paintings such as that in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and  the 1630s, such as that now in Brussels. Snyders seems to have kept a stock of such motifs for use in these larger canvases; a pattern sheet with sketches of no fewer than seventeen different poses for deer carcasses is in the British Museum, while another sheet of pen sketches of boars heads is in Berlin². Similarly both the boar's head and the lobster upon a blue and white porcelain dish can be found in the Larder with a Servant now in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.³  As always Snyders introduces animals into his compositions to achieve a sense of movement: the motif of a hound or two sniffing the game is almost ubiquitous throughout these works from all these decades, as indeed are almost any combination of parrots, squirrels, monkeys and cats. The basket of tumbled fruit is somewhat rarer, but a similar idea can be found in the Fruit and game piece today in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, where the parrot itself causes the basket to overturn⁴.

 

1. Inv. 1191. Canvas, 154 x 237 cm. reproduced in S. Koslow, Snyders, Antwerp 1995, p. 136, fig. 175.
2. Koslow, op. cit., pp. 62-63, figs. 63 and 66.
3. See for example, H. Robels, Frans Snyders, Munich 1989, p. 217, no. 55, reproduced.
4. Robels, op. cit., p. 274, no. 151.