Cornelis Schut
Born Antwerp, 13 May 1597; Died Antwerp, 29 April 1655.
Flemish painter, draughtsman and etcher, active in Italy. In 1618/19 he became a member of the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp. The influence of Abraham Janssen is evident in the early Adoration of the Magi (Caen, Mus. B.A.), but whether Schut was a pupil of Janssen is open to question. From 1624 to 1627 he was in Rome, where he was a founder-member of the Schildersbent (the group of Netherlandish artists active in Rome at that time). Schut worked there under the patronage of the Flemish merchant Pieter de Vischere, whose country house at Frascati Schut decorated with mythological scenes. Schut must also have belonged to the circle of Vincenzo Giustiniani in Rome; two of his early works, the Adoration mentioned above and the Massacre of the Innocents (Caen, Mus. B.A.) were in Giustiniani’s collection. During these years Schut also painted small-scale works depicting allegorical and mythological themes, perhaps intended for the open market. In 1628 he was in Florence, where he designed tapestries for the Arazzeria Medicea. Schut adopted, and retained throughout his career, the new High Baroque style of painting, developed in Italy after 1625 under the influence of such artists as Pietro da Cortona. Features of this style include a strong sense of animation and pathos, in which light and colour play a major role. Elements of late Mannerism are also evident, and Schut’s style, which is characterized by fierce foreshortening, sharp light contrasts and extreme facial expressions, bears some affinity with the work of Federico Barocci, which was important in the evolution of Baroque painting.
After Schut’s return to Antwerp, he worked for Rubens in 1635 on the decoration of the Triumphal Entry of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand into Antwerp. He also painted some of the allegorical compositions for the Cardinal-Infante’s Entry into Ghent. However, apart from the adaptation of motifs and composition schemes, his work shows little stylistic similarity with that of Rubens. Schut’s skill in interpreting the themes of the Counter-Reformation led to his being much in demand for commissions in churches and monasteries in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges and Keulen, for which he painted altarpieces such as the Martyrdom of St George (1643; Antwerp, Kon. Mus. S. Kst.). His particular ability to paint da sotto in sù decorations resulted in a commission to paint the ceiling of the crossing of Antwerp Cathedral with an Assumption of the Virgin (1645–7), his own version of the famous prototypes by Correggio and Lanfranco. It is executed in the same animated style as the Martyrdom of St George, with violently convulsed figures that are remarkably foreshortened and bathed in a flickering light.
Schut’s inventiveness in the field of mythological and allegorical subjects is perhaps best seen in his cartoons for the Seven Liberal Arts, a series of tapestries woven to his designs (Antwerp, Beurscomm.). In his later work Schut’s style remains essentially unchanged, although the colours are less intense and his brushwork is slightly freer. His compositions were also engraved by such artists as Hans Witdoeck, although he was himself an accomplished etcher. He was also the teacher of his nephew, Cornelis Schut III (b Antwerp, c. 1629; d Seville, bur 27 Sept 1685), a painter active primarily in Spain.
Hans Vlieghe. "Schut, Cornelis, I." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T076880 (accessed March 7, 2012).
