Pieter Snayers

Pieter Snayers painted battles and sieges from a high viewpoint, with armies spread out across wide landscapes in careful, topographic detail. His pictures read almost like maps, with clashes of cavalry in the foreground.

Baptised in Antwerp, he trained with Sebastiaen Vrancx and became a master in 1613. He moved to Brussels, where he became court painter to the Habsburg governors of the Spanish Netherlands. He worked with Rubens on some commissions and painted a long series of battles for the general Ottavio Piccolomini. His work is in the Prado, the Hermitage and the Metropolitan Museum.

Battle of Kircholm and Battle of Gravelines show his panoramic battle scenes.