Fox-Hunt

Admired in Holland thanks to the work of Roelant Savery and others, hunting scenes were also very popular in 17th century Flanders. Specialist animal painters included Paul de Vos, Pieter Boel, Jan Fijt and Frans Snijders. Swirling and dynamic action scenes, in which animals fought one other, superseded the courtly hunting scenes of the past. Oddly, human hunters are rarely…

Admired in Holland thanks to the work of Roelant Savery and others, hunting scenes were also very popular in 17th century Flanders. Specialist animal painters included Paul de Vos, Pieter Boel, Jan Fijt and Frans Snijders. Swirling and dynamic action scenes, in which animals fought one other, superseded the courtly hunting scenes of the past. Oddly, human hunters are rarely seen. These painters also paid less attention to the surrounding landscape; the emphasis was always placed on the fight itself. To create these compositions, the artists made studies of every individual element, which they wove together in the studio.