Jan Fyt

Jan Fijt, Jan Fijt or Johannes Fijt (or Fyt) (19 August 1609 – 11 September 1661) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman and etcher. One of the leading still life and animaliers of the 17th century, he was known for his refined flower and fruit still lives, depictions of animals, garland painting and lush hunting pieces, and combinations of these subgenres, such as game, flowers and fish under a festoon of flowers. He was probably the master of the prominent Pieter Boel, who worked in a style very similar to that of Fyt.

Life Jan Fyt was born in Antwerp as the son of a wealthy merchant originally from Sint-Niklaas. In 1621 Fyt was registered at the Antwerp Guild of St Luke as an apprentice of Hans van den Berghe (also referred to as 'Jan van den Bergh'), a Dutch painter and draughtsman who had trained with Goltzius in Haarlem and later with Rubens in Antwerp. Fyt then likely completed his training with the leading Antwerp animal painter Frans Snyders from 1629 to 1631. He became a master of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in the guild year 1630–31.

By 1641 Fyt is recorded back in Antwerp where he remained active for the remainder of his life aside from a brief trip to the Dutch Republic which he is believed to have made that same year. Fyt ran a successful studio in Antwerp which produced many copies of his creations. He became a wealthy man and maintained a network of contacts with patrons and art dealers both at home and abroad. Fyt was particularly skilled in the delicate rendering of the various textures of the fur and plumage of the animals he depicted.

Hunting pieces Fyt innovated the genre of the hunting piece by moving the scene in which the dead game was displayed from an indoor table top to an open landscape.

He was the first artist to depict game as a subject of hunting rather than as food displayed in a home or kitchen. He did not place fruit and vegetables in his game pieces but rather dogs forming part of the hunting scene in an outdoor landscape. Hounds play an important role in these pieces and together with the hunting equipment they point to the proximity of the master. Fyt occasionally included portraits of individuals and families in these game pieces.

Some of his game pieces display the scene as if seen through the eyes of an animal witnessing the scene. An example is the Dead Game and Weasels (c. 1642, Detroit Institute of Arts). The adoption of the animal viewpoint has been interpreted as Fyt's reflection on new philosophical and scientific ideas on the differences and similarities between animal and human consciousness that were developed in 17th-century Europe.

Fyt's innovative game pieces were influential on artists practicing the genre in France and the Dutch Republic.

Engravings Fyt was an accomplished etcher and he produced a series of etchings depicting mainly animals and dogs. These were published in his lifetime in two sets referred to respectively as the Set of the Dogs and the Set of the Animals. The set of 8 prints of the Dogs series was published in 1642. The title plate shows two hunting dogs in front of a pedestal with a dedication to the Spanish Don Carlo Guasco, Marquess of Soleno who was the patron of the publication. The other plates show dogs in the middle of various activities and situations.

The Set of the Animals comprised 8 prints depicting respectively billy goats, an ox, a horse, a recumbent dog, a recumbent cow, a wagon near a tree, a recumbent cow and two foxes.