Frans Snyders or Snijders (11 November 1579 – 19 August 1657) was a Flemish painter of animals and still life. Snyders was born and died at Antwerp. He is recorded as a student of Pieter Brueghel the Younger in 1593, and subsequently received instruction from Hendrick van Balen, the first master of Van Dyck. He was a friend of Van Dyck who painted Snyders and his wife more than once. He became a master of the Antwerp painters guild in 1602.