Kräuterstück mit Hasen und Fröschen an einem Teich.

Kräuterstück mit Hasen und Fröschen an einem Teich (Herb Still Life with Hares and Frogs at a Pond), painted around 1650, demonstrates Jan Fyt's characteristic extension of the still life into naturalistic outdoor settings, blurring the boundary between animal painting and traditional still life. Fyt was the outstanding Antwerp animal and still-life painter of the generation after Snyders, whom he had trained under, and he developed a more varied and naturalistic approach to outdoor settings that distinguished his work from Snyders's more studio-based arrangements. Hares were among the most common game animals in Flemish still life and hunting paintings, appearing in countless works from Jan Brueghel the Elder onward; frogs introduced a different tonal note — creatures of the marginal world of pond and reed that were rarely the primary subject of still life. The combination of herbaceous vegetation, game hares, and pond frogs in a single composition reflects Fyt's interest in the full ecological variety of the Flemish countryside rather than the rarified selections of market or pantry still life.

Fyt's paint handling has a looser, more atmospheric quality than Snyders's earlier market still lifes. The waterside vegetation — reeds, herbs, pond plants — is brushed with gestural freedom that contrasts with the more carefully built fur of the hares. Fyt uses a cool, humid light appropriate to the damp pond setting, quite different from the warm studio light of his indoor compositions.