Cornelis Schut was born in Antwerp in 1597. After probably training and working for a few years in the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, he became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1618. Between 1624 and 1627 he lived in Rome, where he was one of the early members of the Bentvueghels, a local society of Flemish and Dutch artists. His nickname or “bentnaam” was ‘Brootsaken’ (‘bread bags’). In 1627-1628 the artist was in Florence, where he designed tapestries for the Arrazeria Medicea, the tapestry factory founded by Cosimo I de Medici. In the early 1630’s he returned to Antwerp.

 

In 1635 Schut collaborated on the decorations for the Royal Entry of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in Antwerp, a project that was overseen by his former master Rubens. That same year, he was also commissioned to work on preparations for the Joyous Entry in Ghent. Schut collaborated on many other projects, alongside artists such as Gaspar de Crayer and Theodoor Rombouts. He painted the figures in many of Jan van Kessel’s flower garlands. Schut was regularly commissioned for altarpieces in churches and monasteries across the Southern Netherlands, but also further afield, such as in Cologne. In the Antwerp cathedral of Our Lady he painted the ceiling decoration of the dome, which depicts the Assumption of Mary; for the Antwerp Jesuit church he painted one of the four alternating altarpieces, the Ascension of Mary.

 

Stylistically, Schut was influenced by his contemporary Abraham Janssens, as well as by several Italian painters, such as Guercino and Guido Reni. Although he certainly borrowed motifs and stylistic elements from his master Rubens, the latter’s stylistic influence on Schut remained limited, with Schut developing a wholly idiosyncratic and unique style in which elements of Northern Mannerism from around 1600 continued to resonate, alongside influences from Italian artists such as Barocci, the Caracci, Reni, Pietro da Cortona and Guercino.

 

In addition to a painter, Schut was also a very prolific draughtsman, who made numerous drawings and designs - including for etchings, which he sometimes engraved himself - most of which sadly are lost. The present work depicts a military leader triumphantly standing on the edge of a boat, holding a flag in his hand. It is not clear whether the lines under his front foot suggest a wave or a strip of land. The figures in the background, however, seem to be waving at the vessel. Schut has emphasized certain areas with heavier lines in black chalk. The men in the foreground and the bow and sides of the boat are more clearly defined against the thinner figures in the background. The elegant, elongated, and somewhat twisted figure of the soldier in ancient attire in the foreground is highly Mannerist and reminiscent of the work of Bartholomeus Spranger. 

 

The triumphant pose, depicted in an exaggerated contrapposto with the right arm gesturing in foreshortening, brings to mind the resurrected Christ floating above an open grave. This further demonstrates that Schut, compared to most of his Antwerp contemporaries, could and did maintain a certain distance from the influence of Rubens and his more robust figure types. The scene possibly represents a mythological episode from the Iliad or the Odyssey. It could also depict a passage from Roman history, such as an event from the Punic Wars. Perhaps the drawing is related to a tapestry design depicting Scipio Africanus, which Schut is said to have created for the Arazzeria Medicea in Florence in 1628. Unfortunately, no trace of it exists today, but it is mentioned in an inventory from 1637. The composition shows certain similarities to an older tapestry cartoon in the Rijksmuseum attributed to Michiel Coxcie (object no. RP-T-2004-1), depicting the landing of Scipio Africanus in Carthage. Giulio Romano, too, had already designed cartoons for a Scipio series, which Schut would likely have been familiar with. Regrettably, we are not certain about the outcome of the drawing. However, the squared grid indicates that it was copied and further developed on a larger scale. Schut and his assistants must have frequently employed this system of tracing and enlarging compositions, as it appears repeatedly in his drawings.