2 Francs 1965 - Frans Snyders


2 Francs 1965 - Frans Snyders
Added by Bart Perdieus
General Description : Frans Snyders or Snijders (11 November 1579 – 19 August 1657) was a Flemish painter of animals and still life.

Snyders was born and died at Antwerp. He is recorded as a student of Pieter Brueghel the Younger in 1593, and subsequently received instruction from Hendrick van Balen, the first master of Van Dyck. He was a friend of Van Dyck who painted Snyders and his wife more than once.

He became a master of the Antwerp painters guild in 1602. He visited Italy in 1608-9, visiting Rome, and working for Cardinal Borromeo in Milan. In 1611 he married Margaretha, the sister of Cornelis de Vos and Paul de Vos (another animal painter), in Antwerp. Jan Fyt was a student, and then assistant of his from 1629.

Snyders initially devoted himself to painting flowers, fruit and subjects of still life, but later turned to painting animals, and executed with the greatest skill and spirit hunting pieces and combats of wild animals. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers.

His composition is rich and varied, his drawing correct and vigorous, his touch bold and thoroughly expressive of the different textures of furs and skins. His excellence in this department excited the admiration of Rubens, who frequently employed him to paint animals, fruit and still life in his own pictures, and he assisted Jacob Jordaens, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert and other artists in a similar manner.

In the lion and boar hunts which bear the name of Snyders the hand of Rubens sometimes appears. He was one of the executors of Rubens's will.

He was appointed principal painter to the Archduke Albert of Austria, governor of the Low Countries, for whom he executed some of his finest works. One of these, a Stag-Hunt was presented to Philip III of Spain, who together with his successor Philip IV of Spain, commissioned the artist to paint several subjects of the chase, which are still preserved in Spain. He also worked for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, when he became Governor.
Face value 2 Francs
Catalog code (Michel) BE 1380
Catalog code Stamp Number BE 624 Yvert et Tellier BE 1323 Stanley Gibbons BE 1921 AFA number BE 1397 Belgium BE 1323 Unificato BE 1323
Stamp colour dark green blue / purple black
Stamp use Commemorative stamp
Print run 2.250.000
Issue date 15/03/1965
Print technique Photogravure and Recess
Perforation 11 1/2
Height 39.00 mm
Width 28.00 mm
Catalog prices No catalog prices set yet