ATTRIBUTED TO FRANS SNIJDERS AND STUDIOANTWERP 1579 - 1657 | A kitchen scene with an eloborate still life of fruit, game and fish together with a man and a woman

A. Degeuser;
His sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot (M^e Chevallier), 13 May 1898, lot 38, as by Snijders and Rubens (15.000 fr);
T. Dreyfus;
His sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit (M^es Dubreuil and Baudouin), 1 December 1930, lot 12, as by Snijders (23.333 francs to M. Gibour);
Anonymous sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier (M^e Baudouin), 14 May 1935, lot 34, as by Snijders with the collaboration of Jacob Jordaens (10.200 francs to M. Chausson);
Château de Pontchartrain, Jouars-Pontchartrain.

H. Robels, Frans Snyders Stilleben- und Tiermaler 1579-1657, Munich 1989, p. 202, no. 36c (as a studio work with variants).

The painting has been relined. The painted surface seems to be in a reasonably good condition with no major damages apparent. We can observe some thinness throughout due to the old relining, with some minor paint losses around the edges. We can see some surface dirt throughout. The painted surface is covered with an old dirty varnish layer which has turned matt in some places. Furthermore the painted surface is covered with a very fine and dense craquelure pattern. Some discoloured retouchings can be seen, mainly in the darker areas of the composition. Under UV light The varnish layer fluoresces completely, showing one minor strengthening on the doorway above the old woman, and some others in the lower right corner. Offered with a gilt and plastered frame. Please note that Sotheby’s does not guarantee the condition of the frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Some motifs of this impressive composition - the figures, the boar and the deer - are repeated in a painting by Frans Snijders in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, datable to the 1620s.¹ Most of the other motifs, like the fruit basket, the salmon, the oysters and the window upper left, while belonging to Snijders's idiom, cannot be identified in other paintings by the artist. They are of a higher quality than the weaker parts and at least in part they appear to be of enough quality to suggest an attribution to Snijders himself. It is strange that Snijders would have had the main motifs in this painting copied by an assistant, while he himself only added to it marginally, but this seems to be the case in this grand-scale work.

We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for his help in cataloguing this painting, and for confirming, on the basis of photographs that the painting will have originated in the studio of Frans Snijders, with the master himself contributing to it. In his opinion it can be dated to the 1630s. 1. Inv. no. 1195; oil on canvas, 197.5 x 325 cm; see under Literature, pp. 200-201, no. 36.