Frans Snyders. Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes and still lifes. Some of his major paintings are Fish Market (Prado), Still Life with Dead Game (Hermitage) and Concert of Birds (Louvre).
   Snyders' Swan Attacked by a Dog sold in 2016 for $5,400,000 at Sothebys. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers and he is credited with initiating a wide variety of new still-life and animal subjects in Antwerp.
   He was a regular collaborator with leading Antwerp painters such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. Snyders was born in Antwerp as the son of Jan Snijders, the keeper of a wine inn frequented by artists.
   According to legend the famous 16th-century painter Frans Floris squandered his fortune in the inn. Snyders' mother was Maria Gijsbrechts.
   Snyders had five siblings. His brother Michiel also became a painter but no works of him are known. Snyders was recorded as a student of Pieter Brueghel the Younger in 1593, and subsequently trained with Hendrick van Balen, who was the first master of Anthony van Dyck. Snyders became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1602. He travelled to Italy in 1608-9 where he first resided in Rome. The artist subsequently traveled from Rome to Milan. Jan Brueghel the Elder had introduced him there by letter to the famous art collector Cardinal Borromeo. Brueghel asked
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