Jan Fyt

Variant namesauktoriserad namnform: Jan Fyt

DatesBiographical dates: 1611 - 1661 Dead: dead 1661 Born: born 1611

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BiographyBiography: Jan Fyt was a painter of still lifes, animals and flowers. The son of an affluent merchant, Fyt was active for most of his career at Antwerp, where he was baptized on 15 March, 1611. He is listed in the records of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke for 1621–1622 as the pupil of Hans van den Berghe, by whom no surviving works are known. He then completed his training with Frans Snyders, who determined his subject and early style. He remained with Snyders for a year after becoming a master in the guild in 1629–30. In 1633 and 1634 he was in Paris: he then travelled to Italy c. 1635, where he worked in Venice and Rome before returning to Antwerp by 1641. In April 1642 he may have briefly visited the northern Netherlands. In 1652 he is mentioned as dean of the Antwerp Guild of Romanists. He married in Antwerp in 1654 and pursued a highly industrious and successful career there, until his death on 11 September 1661. Fyt’s earliest works, which are not known, were presumably close to those of his teacher, Frans Snyders, and several hunting scenes from Snyders’ circle have been hypothetically ascribed to Fyt (Robels). After his trip to Italy, he adopted a more restricted, tonal palette, loosened his technique and increased the movement and asymmetry in his paintings. Fyt specialized in game pieces – sometimes in an outdoor setting, sometimes with added fruit and/or flowers – and these were already commanding unusually high prices during his lifetime (the highest recorded price for one of his still lifes is 370 guilders). He was a prolific artist who also painted animal fables, hunting and poultry-yard scenes, and the occasional flower and fruit still lifes. Fyt signed most of his paintings, often dating them too. Fyt regularly produced replicas of his compositions, sometimes with the help of studio assistants. The best of his many pupils was Pieter Boel; others included Jeronimus Pinckaert, Jacob van de Kerckhoven (1649–1650) and Balthasar Treouts (1659). He collaborated on occasion with history painters such as Erasmus Quellinus II, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Pieter Thys and possibly also Jacob Jordaens. Fyt became one of the most successful artists in Antwerp, his paintings were in demand both locally and abroad and he greatly influenced the development of still life painting in the Netherlands and Italy.

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