Paul de Vos

Paul de Vos (1591/92, or 1595 in Hulst – 30 June 1678 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in mainly in compositions of animals, hunting scenes and still lifes.

He worked for an elite clientele and was a regular collaborator of leading Antwerp painters such as Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens.

De Vos became a master and joined the guild of St. Luke at a late age in 1620, probably because he had initially trained and worked in the workshop of his brother-in-law Frans Snyders who had married his sister Margaretha in 1611.

[3][4] Paul de Vos married Isabella Waerbeek, a notary's daughter, on 15 Nov 1624 and the couple had 10 children.

His subject matter was varied and included scenes of pantries, quarrelling dogs, bird concerts and animal fights.

[4] De Vos was able to develop his own personal style that accentuated abrupt movement, the gruesome aspects of hunts, used warmer colours and a broader brush stroke than Snyders.

Other art historians regard the hunting scenes of de Vos as more dynamic and evidencing a more personal style when compared with those of Snyders, who was more a still life painter.

De Vos introduced new motifs into the iconographic tradition in his scenes of fighting cats and horses attacked by wolves.