Pieter Snayers was a Flemish Baroque painter known for representations of historical battle scenes.

Born in Antwerp, he studied under Sebastiaen Vrancx before joining Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke in 1612. By 1628, Snayers was a citizen in Brussels.

There, he worked first for Archduchess Isabella

Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain

Isabella Clara Eugenia of Austria was sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and the north of modern France, together with her husband Albert. In some sources, she is referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia...

, and was later the court painter for Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Infante of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Archbishop of Toledo , and military...

 and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria was an Austrian military commander, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1647 to 1656, and a patron of the arts.-Biography:...

. For them he painted scenes of victorious battles in the tradition of sixteenth-century tapestries

Tapestry

Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...

.

Snayers also collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens on several occasions, including the never-finished Life of Henry IV (1628–30) and the Torre de la Parada series (c. 1637–1640). He also painted portraits of aristocracy in Brussels and large landscapes. Snayers's best-known pupil was Adam Frans van der Meulen.

Snayers died at Brussels in 1666 or 1667.

Battle scenes

Snayers historical battle scenes demonstrate a close attention to topographic accuracy. Frequently, his paintings show a shallow foreground that recedes sharply to show a besieged town from a bird's-eye perspective

Bird's-eye view

A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in the making of blueprints, floor plans and maps.It can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing...

.

Stylistically, his colouring was more subdued than his teacher Vrancx and reflects contemporary trends in Flemish and Dutch

Dutch Golden Age painting

Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history generally spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years War for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe, and led European trade,...

painting.