Peeter Snyers* (1681-1752)

Two Months of the Year; 'December': A Peasant Woman and Children by a Chestnut Vendor, a Village beyond; and 'March': Women and Children gathered at a Market Stall, a Village beyond

Details

Peeter Snyers* (1681-1752)
Two Months of the Year; 'December': A Peasant Woman and Children by a Chestnut Vendor, a Village beyond; and 'March': Women and Children gathered at a Market Stall, a Village beyond
the first signed 'P.Sners', the second signed 'Peeter Sners'
oil on canvas
33 x 26in. (84.5 x 68cm.)
Two (2)

Provenance

Probably two paintings from a series of The Twelve Months which were in the artist's estate sale, Antwerp, Aug. 23, 1763, lot 1: Twaalf extra schoone Stukken, verbeeldende de twaalf Maanden des Jaars, door Figuuren, Vrugten en Bloemen in Landschappen, ieder het Saisoen van eene Maand, geschildert in zyn beste tyde (the sight size given in the sale catalogue is almost exactly that of the present paintings).
Anon. Sale; Langford's, Covent Garden, London, March 8-9, (=2nd day), 1776, lots 60 and 69.
The Earls of Dunraven, Adare Manor, Co. Limerick.
Anon. Sale, Sotheby's, London, Nov. 17, 1982, lot 9, sold with January and July (22,000=$37,400).
Anon. Sale, Sotheby's, New York, Jan. 15, 1987, lot 33 ($47,500).

Literature

G. Hoet and P. Terwesten, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen..., III, 1770, p. 349.

Lot Essay

The present paintings form part of a series of the Twelve Months of the Year executed (according to the artist's inscription and date on January) in 1727. Each painting illustrates the month it represents using the signs of the zodiac and representations of people with seasonal produce. Thus, December shows a chestnut vendor and a Woman carrying kindling in a winter landscape with snow beginning to fall, and the Star of Bethlehem on the signboard of the Inn. A child holds a goat, representing the sign of Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). March shows women and children buying fruit and fish, a pot of crocus vernus - which flowers in March/April - beginning to bloom, and a boy with a ram, signifying Aries (March 21-April 19).

March and December are probably identifiable as two from the complete set of twelve paintings offered as lot 1 in Peeter Snyers's estate sale held in Antwerp on Aug. 23, 1763. Five of these, emblematic of February, April, May, June and November were subsequently offered for sale at Christie's, London in 1928. June and November were sold again in these Rooms on Jan. 11, 1995, lot 5 ($55,000). January and July, which were sold with the present paintings at Sotheby's, London, Nov. 17, 1982, lot 9 (22,000=$37,400), are now in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp. The months of April and May are in the Muses royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.