The Monkey’s Paw1

U consequences fuel the creative mind. The stuff of adventure in literature, their twists and turns wreak havoc in the science laboratory and the art studio alike. Frans Snyders, old master and founder of Baroque still life with animals, understood the unexpected and its power to surprise and used it to animate his work. A thriving arts market in 17th-century Flanders, supported by growing prosperity and curiosity about the natural world, provided a rich environment for still life painting, known since antiquity but always relegated low down the ladder of genres. As he expressed the exuberance of his age in lifeless objects made dynamic and relevant, Snyders elevated the genre. His compositions often contained live animals as well as carcasses at the butcher shop or game fresh from the hunt. He so loved this part of the work that he abandoned still lifes altogether to become one of the fi rst animaliers. He collected specimens of local and exotic animals to observe their behavior and physical characteristics and improve his specialized portrayal of them. Snyders was born in Antwerp, center of the arts during the Counter Reformation and playground of such luminaries as the Brueghel family of painters, Peter Paul Rubens, and Anthony van Dyck. A student of Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Snyders managed to convey the local culture not just with accuracy but with humor and commentary in compositions later considered best of the genre. He joined the Antwerp painters Guild of St. Luke and, like all serious artists of his time, visited Italy to study the masters. He was competent and prolifi c and attracted royal patronage and great popularity at home and abroad.