Lot 1221 Dα

The original version of this large-format fish still life is Frans Snijder's "Fish Market" in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (inv. no. 1320). The original in St. Petersburg is an often copied masterpiece (Robels, no. 29 a-e) from a series of four paintings carried out in around 1616-1621 for Antoon Triest, Bishop of Bruges and later of Ghent. Alongside the "Fish Market", these four depictions of markets with numerous animals included a "Fruit Market", "Vegetable Market" and "Game Merchant" (Robels, nos. 26-30). An early studio copy of the "Fish Market" is housed in the Louvre in Paris (inv. no. 1848, Robels, no. 29 a). According to Robels, that piece was the prototype for the "Fish Market" that was recorded on the Swiss art market in 1980 and which is identical with the present work (Robels, no. 29 c).