Artwork
Fish market
Fish market is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Frans Snyders. It dates from 1625 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting presents a bustling fish market scene filled with vendors and buyers engaged in commerce. Symbolically, the abundance of fresh fish underscores themes of prosperity and the sustenance of the community. The work also reflects the social dynamics of 17th‑century Antwerp, where market activity served both economic and communal functions.
Technique & Style
While primarily attributed to Frans Snyders, the piece is also associated with Cornelis de Vos, suggesting a potential collaborative effort in its creation.
Executed in 1625, this large-scale genre scene is an oil painting on canvas measuring 225 cm in height and 365 cm in width. The work depicts a bustling fish market, featuring figures and various types of fish arranged as food. While primarily attributed to Frans Snyders, the piece is also associated with Cornelis de Vos, suggesting a potential collaborative effort in its creation. The composition reflects the detailed observation of natural elements and market activity characteristic of the period.
History & Provenance
Fish market, an oil-on-canvas genre painting by Frans Snyders, is dated to 1625. The work entered the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the Habsburg governor of the Spanish Netherlands and a major patron who assembled one of the most important seventeenth-century art collections. It subsequently passed into the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remains located. The painting measures 225 cm in height by 365 cm in width.
The painting Fish market is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. According to the provided records, the work was historically owned by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. The sources do not specify a current inventory or accession number for the piece, nor do they list any details regarding its exhibition history.
Overview
Frans Snyders’ oil painting dated 1625 presents a bustling fish market scene. The composition centers on a bearded vendor in a dark coat, grasping a sizable lobster, while an abundance of fish and shellfish spill across tables, baskets, and hooks. A dim doorway frames a distant harbor with boats and a coastal town, situating the market within a lively port environment.
Context
Snyders was renowned for his animal and market scenes, often collaborating with contemporaries such as Rubens. This painting aligns with the Flemish Baroque interest in realism and the depiction of everyday labor, serving both as a visual record of commercial practices and as a study in the interplay of light, texture, and color.
Artist & collection
Artist
Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes, and still lifes.
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