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| | In the Hermitage room where the paintings of Frans Snyders, that "brilliant maître d'hôtel of Flemish society", are assembled, it seems (to Alexander Benois) as if some "Lucullian feast" is being prepared. A luxurious world full of the gifts of land and sea, glistening in splendidly rich colours, astonishing in their variety and abundance of shapes, is revealed to us in his tremendous "shop" canvases. These large decorative works, created to adorn palace state rooms, are an embodiment of the spirit of the Flemish Baroque.
Paul de Vos, a pupil of Snyders, made his name with depictions of dogs hunting wild beasts and encounters between them. There is no savagery in them, though. The artist makes the viewer admire the movement of the animals, their grace and elegance, strength and agility. The works of Snyders and de Vos were tremendously popular among the Flemish and Spanish aristocracy. |
