Deer Hunting

Deer Hunting, dated 1618 and held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, is a relatively early large-format hunt composition by Snyders, painted when he was firmly establishing his reputation in Antwerp following his Italian sojourn. The pairing of this work with Eine Eberhetze (also 1618, same collection) suggests they may have been conceived as companion pieces for a single decorative programme, probably for an aristocratic Bavarian interior. Hunting scenes in pairs — boar and deer — were a conventional decorative scheme for dining rooms and hunting lodges in seventeenth-century aristocratic houses, where they served as visual trophies analogous to the mounted antlers and pelts on the walls. In 1618 Snyders was still developing his mature formula: the compositions of this date tend to be somewhat more compressed than his expansive later hunts. The Wittelsbach collecting tradition in Bavaria embraced Flemish animal painting enthusiastically, and the Munich collections retain a remarkable concentration of Snyders's work, making the Bavarian State Painting Collections one of the most important repositories of his output outside Belgium.

The 1618 date suggests a relatively early handling, with tighter drawing of animal anatomy compared to the more fluid later works. The ground is warm brown, over which Snyders builds the deer's tawny coat in short, overlapping strokes. Compositional energy is directed through diagonal lines formed by the angles of pursuing hounds, creating controlled dynamism.