Cornelis
Schut (I) (1597–1655)
“Madonna with Child” (Rijksmuseum title), c1618–1655, published by
J Haest (fl. 1647) with privilege (provider unknown).
Etching on laid paper trimmed with narrow margins and re-margined
on a support sheet.
Sze: (support-sheet) 30.5 x 26.4 cm; (sheet trimmed unevenly) 13 x
11cm; (plate) 12.2 x 10.2 cm
Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Corn: Schut
in. cum privilegio"; (right) “à Anvers. Chez J. Haest.”
State ii (of ii) (with the addition of the publication details at lower right)
Hollstein Dutch 48-2 (2)
Ref: Gertrude Wilmers 1996, “Cornelis Schut (1597-1655): A Flemish
Painter of the High Baroque”, Brepols, Turnhout.
Ann Diels 2009, “The shadow of Rubens: Print publishing in
17th-century Antwerp: Prints by the history painters Abraham van Diepenbeeck,
Cornelis Schut and Erasmus Quellinus II”, pp. 88–104, 134–137, 207–240.
The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:
“Maria leans her left arm on a balustrade and carries the Christ
Child high on her right arm. The Christ Child makes a blessing gesture.”
Condition: a crisp, richly inked and excellent impression with a minor
printer’s mark/smudge above the Virgin’s head, otherwise in near perfect condition
(i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, stains, foxing or significant signs of
use) with small margins and laid upon an archival support sheet.
I am selling this graphically strong image of the Virgin and Child
by one of the highly influential old masters after the death of Rubens in1640
for AU$189 (currently US$147.56/EUR120.38/GBP105.36 at the time of posting this
listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost.
If you are interested in purchasing this vibrant etching almost
glowing with spiritual life, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com)
and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.
This print has been sold
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when looking into the background of
artists who craft potent devotional images like this one, after all history is
studded with rebels like the great Caravaggio, but I must say that I wasn’t
expecting to see that Cornelis Schut was a murderer. Ah well … everyone has
their personal proclivities! No doubt Schut’s choice to execute MANY etchings
of the Virgin and Child and similar spiritually transcendent scenes helped soothe
his soul. Moreover, with regard to the theopathetic aspect of Schut’s choice of
subject, Ann Diels (2009) makes the point in “The Shadow of Rubens: Print
Publishing in 17th-century Antwerp”, that Schut’s interest in
famously showcasing St Nicholas of Myra—a saint who intercedes for prisoners—“was
certainly not arbitrary” (p. 89).
From what I have been able to find out about the publication of
Schut’s prints, the majority of them were published by the artist with
privilege (but the source of this privilege seems to be unclear). This is one
of the very few original prints by Schut that is lettered with publication
details: “à Anvers. Chez.” which in translation means, “in Antwerp at J. Haest”
—J Haest was a Belgian publisher active around 1647. Having these publication
details also helps with the attribution of a date for this print so that it may
be narrowed from the broad time window of 1618 to 1655 proposed by the Rijksmuseum
to sometime around 1647.
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