Fish market, around 1620/30

Presumably the artist is hardly concerned here with a fish market in the narrower sense. This large-scale Baroque still life is rather intended to illustrate the diversity of the “treasures of the ocean” and is thus an allegory of water. Moreover, fish markets traditionally symbolised winter as well. The extreme precision of the zoological depictions – all the animals are clearly definable and brilliantly executed by Snyders – reveals the interest in science shown during the 17th century. The figures were painted by Snyders’ colleague Cornelis de Vos.