Jan Fyt
[2] The Italian art historian Pellegrino Antonio Orlandi stated in his Abecedario pittorico of 1704 that Fyt also spent time in Spain and London.
[8] By 1641 Fyt is recorded back in Antwerp where he remained active for the remainder of his life aside from a brief trip to the Dutch Republic which he is believed to have made that same year.
He became a wealthy man and maintained a network of contacts with patrons and art dealers both at home and abroad.
[2] He was frequently mentioned in judicial documents in Antwerp in relation to disputes and court cases with other painters and members of his own family over money.
[2] Fyt's pupils included Pieter Boel and Jaques van de Kerckhove, who both had successful careers abroad.
Although better known for his hunting, game and animal pieces he also painted beautiful still life compositions with flowers and fruit.
His works were sought after by important art collectors of his day and are now in the collections of many leading international museums.
[1] Fyt's animal still lifes are generally more refined than those of Frans Snyders as he catered primarily to the tastes of an aristocratic clientele.
[10] Fyt innovated the genre of the hunting piece by moving the scene in which the dead game was displayed from an indoor table top to an open landscape.
He did not place fruit and vegetables in his game pieces but rather dogs forming part of the hunting scene in an outdoor landscape.
[3] While hunting was at the time still a pastime reserved for the aristocracy, the well-off urban elite were eager to acquire Fyt's game pieces to decorate their houses with these tokens of a lifestyle only open to aristocrats.
[14] Fyt's innovative game pieces were influential on artists practicing the genre in France and the Dutch Republic.
[1] As was the custom in Antwerp at the time, Fyt collaborated regularly with other painters who were specialist in other areas such as figure, landscape or architectural painting.
The title plate shows two hunting dogs in front of a pedestal with a dedication to the Spanish Don Carlo Guasco, Marquess of Soleno who was the patron of the publication.
