Świat zwierząt Daniela Schultza

Abstract

Daniel Schultz (1615–1683) was one of the most important painters of his time, highly regarded among the Polish nobility and patricians of his native city of Gdańsk. Schultz’s game and animal pieces resemble works of Flemish artists. His earliest animal picture Trophies in the Pantry is perhaps most Southern Netherlandish in character. Fred G. Meijer attributed to Schultz a painting on the subject of hunting, bearing the monogram “DS” and dated 1649. Schultz also executed a smaller painting, which is a depiction of a fox (or rather a dog) head shown in profile and a bunch of grapes, with some killed birds. Furthermore, two other animal paintings by Schultz are known from the National Museum in Gdańsk. In 2014, a pair of pendant paintings of dead birds appeared on the art market. Their similarity to the Medicean Trophies led the experts of the Artcurial auction house to ascribe them to Schultz. As one compares them with some other works by the Gdańsk artist, the resemblance is even more pronounced. Both paintings are now in a Polish private collection. In the Museum of Fine Arts in Gent there are two other paintings attributed to Frans Snyders and Jan Fyt which could have been painted by Daniel Schultz. The focus on perfectly studied animals, framing of the composition, and a summary treatment of the background are characteristic of him. The ‘Ds 16__’ monogram bears the painting from the Kuscovo Palace (Moscow), which depicts A Heron, a Bittern and a Rabbit. Schultz was the first artist in the territories associated with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to create independent animal and still life paintings. Possibly a pupil of Elias Vonck, the Amsterdam master active in Prussia, Schultz was also influenced by Antwerp masters such as Frans Snyders and Johannes Spruyt. Schultz’s interest for animal themes and still life may have been connected with characteristic features of the culture of Gdańsk, such as, for instance, a penchant for hunting, viewed both as a pastime and a subject for art. Gdańsk citizens enjoyed the right to hunt as of 1588, earlier than any other European bourgeoisie. Most signed works by Schultz are his depictions of animals. Tis could be an indirect suggestion about the identity of the recipients of Schultz’s depictions of the animal world. As stated above, the Gdańsk citizens had a predilection for hunting pieces; they also cared more than courtiers about the fact that such representations were authored by a Gdańsk artist.