(Hulst c. 1595–1678 Antwerp) and (Antwerp 1586–1653)
Wolves attacking a horse,
oil on canvas, 175.5 x 328 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Giovanni Francesco Invrea, Doge of Genoa, 1693–1695 (as Frans Snyders);
Collection Angelo Torriglia, Chiavari (1836);
Collection Pietro Torriglia (1908, as Frans Snyders);
by descent to the present owner

Literature:
L. Pessa, La Collezione Torriglia a Chiavari, Genoa, 1995, pp. 18–20, no. 94

Inventories:
Eredità di Giovanni Francesco Invrea, Torriglia family archives, box no. 5 (‘Sneider diversi animali‘);
Inventario dell’eredità di Pietro Torriglia, Palazzina di Via Peschiera (1908), Torriglia family archives, box no. 5 (‘Caccia ai lupi probabilmento dello Schneider’)

Several versions of the present painting exist, a product of the collaboration between Paul de Vos and Jan Wildens (who executed the landscape), such as those in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Orléans, and in the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris (for a full list, see the exhibition catalogue Le Siècle de Rubens, Paris, 1977/78, no. 210). It seems to have been one of the painter’s most popular compositions, as he was commissioned to produce several replicas.

Paul de Vos was one of the most important and productive painters of animals and still lifes of the 17th century. Walther Bernt writes about him: ‘His extremely dynamic animal fights and scenes of game chased by hounds exhibit his personal talent, although they occasionally also betray a somewhat superficial execution. The slender and elegant bodies of his animals are rendered in full movement and in warm light-brownish or grey tones, unlike those of Frans Snyders, who used more powerful local colours. The physiognomy of his animals reflects their momentary experience. The artist’s extraordinarily fluid manner of painting and his inventiveness inspired hunting scenes by Jan Fyt, Pieter Boel, and the German painter Carl Ruthart.’

Paul de Vos, who was a brother of the portraitist Cornelis de Vos, began his career as a student of Denis van Hove (1604) and David Remeeus (1606) in Antwerp, where he was appointed master of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1620. He repeatedly worked for and together with Peter Paul Rubens, who in 1628 became godfather to his son, Peter Paul. He painted animals, heraldic emblems, or weapons in several paintings by Rubens (cf. Mars Crowned by Victory in the Augsburg Staatsgalerie). Together with Rubens and Frans Snyders, his brother-in-law, Paul de Vos worked for King Philip IV of Spain in 1637/38, for whom they decorated Buen Retiro and the Torre de la Parada. He repeatedly also collaborated with Jacob Jordaens and, as in the present case, with Jan Wildens. In a joint project with Jan van den Hoecke, Paul de Vos painted the cartoons for a series of tapestries devoted to the Twelve Months. Besides King Philip IV, his most important patrons included Cardinal Infant Ferdinand, Archduke Leopold William, Philip of Arenberg, the Duke of Aerschot, and the Marquis of Leganés, the president of the Council of Flanders in Madrid.

The present painting, according to old inventories, was once attributed to Frans Snyders. It was owned by the important art collector Giovanni Francesco Invrea, the Doge of the Republic of Genoa between 1693 and 1695. Among others, his collection comprised works by Domenico Piola, Antonio Maria Vassallo, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, called Il Grecchetto, and Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Il Bacciccio. The doge left behind no children from his marriage to Luigia Lomellini, so that after a lengthy process regarding the inheritance, the collection passed into the possession of his cousin, Angelo Torriglia. It was then transferred to the family property in Chiavari near Genoa, where it remained as property of the Marchesi di Torriglia until well into the 20th century.