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In this composition, various species of birds perched on the branches of a tree -a stork, an eagle, a red macaw, etc.- sing around a musical score. As in many of Frans Snyders’ compositions, the largest birds on the ends protect the smaller ones. According to Sánchez Cantón, this work comes from the collection of the Count-Duke of Olivares’ cousin, don Diego de Mejía y Fel&iac
According to Plutarch, Philopoemen, a strategist and general of the Aequian League that fought against Sparta, visited the city of Megara. Because of his unassuming, humble appearance, the lady of the house confused him with a servant and put him to work. The present scene depicts the moment when the husband realizes the general´s true identity, under whose modest appearance is hidden the grandeur
Goddess of grains and the harvest, Ceres holds some corn cobs in her right hand while, with the left, she holds a horn of plenty. Two nymphs fill the cornucopia with fruits, symbolizing the Earth´s generosity. The subject is inspired by Ovid´s mythological tales. In this collaboration between two artists, something quite frequent among Flemish painters, Rubens made the figures of the goddess and h
As goddess of the Earth and agriculture, Ceres is depicted wearing a bundle of wheat spikes on her head. Beside her, Pan, the god of shepherds and herds, has a crown of oak leaves. Ceres symbolizes cultivated nature and Pan, wild nature. The horn of plenty and basket of fruit in their laps alludes to the fecundity and fertility of the Earth, which is strengthened by the fruit and vegetables strewn
Snyders invented a type of scene of domestic interiors in which animals are the principal protagonists. Here a dog which has entered a larder and taken a large piece of meat is looking defiantly at another one chewing a string of sausages. The overturned basket of fruit and the broken china indicate the damage caused by their violence.
This opulent still-life scene typical of the Baroque Flemish school includes a human figure and two animals, as was common in the period, in accordance with the tastes of the clients, whose wealth and prosperity was also reflected in this genre of paintings. Snyders´ clientele were members of the nobility and haute bourgeoisie who were interested in his paintings as testimonies to wealth as well a
In the composition, an owl on a branch directs a chorus of fifteen other types of birds while holding a score between its feet. Such images of different species of birds perched on tree trunks, sometimes with musical scores, were known as Concerts of birds and were popularized by Flemish artists in the early decades of the 17th century, especially Frans Snyders. They were quite common at that time
This scene is inspired by a passage from the Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid. Orpheus, the mythological Greek musician and poet, sung and played the lyre so sublimely that all the animals, even the fiercest, came up close to listen to him. In another episode from Orpheus’s life he made use of music to try to rescue his wife Eurydice from the Underworld. From Antiquity to the present day that
