A Greyhound Catching a Young Wild Boar, ca. 1620

Frans Snijders, a pupil of Pieter II Brueghel, was a highly successful painter of still lifes and animals, both in his native city of Antwerp and abroad. The influence of his friend Peter Paul Rubens, with whom he often worked, can be seen in the simple clear composition of his still lifes and in his lively depictions of animals. Unlike Rubens, Snijders preferred simple animal scenes without figures. In A Greyhound Catching a Young Wild Boar we see Snijders’ feeling for the dramatic climax of a hunting scene as well as his keen eye for animal anatomy. The work stands out by its perfect balance of light and dark tones and its powerful and precise brushwork. The painting is fairly unique in Snijders’ oeuvre. There is no other known hunting scene in which he focuses so closely on a group of animals.