Frans Snyders · PD
Boar Hunt
Details
The story
In 1837, in the middle of a civil war over the Spanish throne, the government of the child queen Isabella II confiscated the property of the Infante Sebastián Gabriel, a prince of the royal house who had gone over to her rival, the pretender Don Carlos. His paintings were carried off to the Museo de la Trinidad, a state museum set up in a former convent in Madrid, and put on public view. This boar hunt, more than five metres long, was among them. When the prince later recognised Isabella as queen, his pictures came back to him.
His son, the Duke of Dúrcal, sent the collection to auction in New York in 1889. The Boston collector John Templeman Coolidge bought this canvas, lent it to the museum that same year, and made it a gift in 1917.
Snyders painted it in Antwerp around 1625 to 1630. The dogs carry the whole action, and the museum notes that his hounds were often painted from particular animals. The one at the far right wears a protective coat, perhaps because its owner prized it above the rest.
