Forrest still life with fruit, hedgehog and nest

PIETER SNIJERS

Antwerp 1681 – 1752

Provenance
Private collection

Note
Little is known about the life of Pieter Snijers who was born in Antwerp in 1681. He became a pupil of Alexander van Bredael in 1694 and was accepted as master in the Brussels guild in 1705 and in the guild of Antwerp in 1707.
Apart from a period spent in  England during the 1720s, where he painted portraits of the aristocracy, Snijers lived most of his life in Antwerp. From1741, he taught at the Antwerp Academy and died in his native city in 1752. Snijers came from a wealthy family and was able to amass an important collection of paintings by artists from the previous century.
His financial independence also allowed him the freedom to be experimental in his own artistic activity. In addition to his still lives, Snijers painted portraits, landscapes and genre subjects. Of his genre paintings, he is best known for his series  of the Twelve Months, painted for his own collection, of which four are now in the museums at Antwerp and Brussels.
Snijers rarely dated the paintings and his style and handling do not appear to have changed significantly during the course of his career.

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