Peter Snayers
This Society's membership consisted principally of citizens from the elite and wealthy middle classes including artists and merchants.
In Antwerp, the family lived in luxury and Snayers participated annually in the lavish banquet of the chamber of rhetoric Violieren.
[14] Snayers likely moved to Brussels in order to pursue opportunities at the court of the Archduchess Isabella, the widow of the Archduke and the governess of the Southern Netherlands.
After Isabella's death in 1633, Snayers became court painter to the next two governors, the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria (1634–1641) and the Archduke Leopold (Wilhelm) (1647–1656).
[9] He collaborated with painters in Antwerp such as Peter Paul Rubens on several occasions, including on the never-finished Life of Henry IV cycle (1628–30) and the Torre de la Parada series (c.
[9] Peter Snayers is mainly known as a painter of battles, military engagements, raids on villages and attacks on, or robberies of, convoys.
[15] Stylistically, his coloring was more subdued than that of his teacher Vrancx and reflects contemporary trends in Flemish and Dutch painting.
[15] His artistic sources included prints by Georg Braun, Frans Hogenberg, Jacques Callot and works by Peter Paul Rubens.
[18] Snayers generally did not include in his compositions any explanatory signs, symbols or legends that would help the viewer in identifying which battle was depicted.
The absence of such explanatory elements preserved the realism of the picture but also required the viewer to have prior information to understand the subject.
As most of his works were commissioned by the highest military leaders in the Habsburg (Spanish and Imperial) army they would have known the scenes depicted.
His large canvases clearly played a dual role: they documented the historical event and at the same time they glorified the military men who participated in the action.
As his works' distribution remained limited to the Spanish side, the decay of the Habsburg dynasty in the second half of the 17th century affected the artist's international reputation.
The picture narrates a scene of travellers in a stage coach attempting to ward off an attack of robbers.
He was a regular collaborator with landscape painters Joos de Momper, Jan Brueghel the Younger and Alexander Keirincx.
[21] An example of a collaboration with Joos de Momper is the View of a city canal in winter with figures, presumably in Antwerp (at Artcurial, Paris, 19 June 2012, lot 14).
The scene is animated by many characters going about their daily activities, children enjoying the joys of winter and merchants busy at their stalls.
[23] Snayers' collaborations with Peter Paul Rubens included the never-finished cycle on the Life of Henry IV (1628–30) and the Torre de la Parada series (c.
They contrast with Rubens' contribution in the lower part of the compositions, which consist of significantly larger figures, including King Henry IV on horseback, which fill the foreground.
Rubens had received a commission from the Spanish king Philip IV of Spain to create a series of paintings to decorate the hunting lodge.
