Adriaen van Utrecht and Frans Snyders are considered to be the leading inventors of the Flemish painting still-life genre. The two artists emphasize abundance by depicting a variety of objects, fruits, flowers, and dead nature, often with live animals. Van Utrecht also painted many colorful still-lifes. He was a regular associate of leading artists in Antwerp who were students or assistants of Peter Paul Rubens, such as Jacob Jordan, David Tenners Jr., Erasmus Quellin II, Gerard Segers, Theodore Rombouts, Abraham van Dilbeck, and Thomas Villebery Bossier.