Schelte Adams Bolswert

A partial indecipherable inkstamp verso

This dynamic hunting scene after Ruben’s 1621 painting depicts four horsemen and three footmen battling two lions. The circular composition directs the carnage back to the central lion whose jaw is clamped determinedly on the falling huntsman in the foreground. Distracted by its prey, the lion is unaware that it is about to be struck by the helmeted horseman behind it. The power of the lions is heightened by the dead footman to the right and gaping mouth of the lion to the left as it mockingly mirrors the aghast expression of the falling man. This central triangle of figures highlights that this is a tense and evenly matched combat, despite the imbalance in numbers.